Soldiers past and present
by Crazyforkasey
Summary: They got the chance to fight and love the men of their dreams. OC/Speirs, OC/Lipton, OC/Winters, OC/Nixon Edited july 2013
1. Chapter 1

**_Afghanistan Camp Bastian June 2012._**

"Watch out, in coming" Some yelled.

Four female soldiers ran towards the bunker, a shell hits right behind them, and they hit the ground with a big humph.

Then darkness and then silence.

* * *

**_Normandy June of 1945._**

"Flash" A voice called out

"Ouch, what the hell! thunder" a female voice said

The private, who had called out flash, were surprised by the very feminine voice that answered him, he got even more surprised, when four soldiers, dressed in very strange uniforms walked out from the bushes.

The four weren't wearing any helmets and they were only armed with side arms. The private noticed that the four of them, all were wearing captain or second lieutenants bars, so should he shoot them or salute them, he decided on the last.

One of the lieutenants let out a breath, when she saw the private lower his weapon, she had realized that the explosion in the Danish camp had either killed them or opened some kind of time portal, sending back to the place they had always talked about if time travel was possible.

"What's your name private?" one of the lieutenants asked

"Frank Perconte" The private said

"What outfit are you with?" The same Lieutenant asked, even though she and the other three girls already knew the answer.

"Easy company, 506th, 101st" Frank said

The four girls had all attended West Point; they had studied Easy company like a religion and now they knew they would get to meet a big idol of theirs, Richard Winters.

One of the Captains, who was currently carrying a lieutenant, who was moaning out in pain said "Private I am captain Dana Grey, the blonde over there is Captain Emma Hunter, this one my shoulder is Charlotte "Charlie" Kahne lieutenant in the united states airborne  
infantry, and the brooding one over there, is Camilla Hamlin lieutenant" She said.

Perconte just nodded, not knowing what to say.

"So private, how about we find your rendezvous point, so our medic can get a look at lieutenant Kahne," Dana said

The group started to move out. On the way; they met up with some men from Dog Company, who was surprised to see Frank Perconte walking around in Normandy with a group of girls.

Walking towards the Rendezvous point the group came across a German platoon or what was left of it.

Emma was in the lead, she was a captain and decided to lead, the guys were still dazed and confused from the drop, just let her.

Dana, who was still carrying Charlie, was in the middle and Camilla was bringing up the rear.

The group huddle together "Ok so Kabul night maneuver, Perconte take Charlie into the bushes and stay with her" Emma said.

The girls nodded and each of them took two men with them, sneaking around the Germans, they had the platoon took out the platoon, and without losing any men

* * *

**_Late morning, Rendezvous point near Bret court manor._**

Walking down the road with four girls, Perconte turned some heads. On their way to meet up with the rest of the company, the group walked by a dark haired lieutenant, he ordered the men from Dog Company to go to their meeting point yelling at them for being late.

Camilla stepped up "Excuse me, these men was just dropped in the wrong drop zone and they hauled ass, to get here as soon as they could, so take a chill pill and relaxed" she said.

The lieutenant gave her a cold stare "Who are you" he asked

"Lieutenant Camilla Hamlin, Us Airborne" Camilla answered.

The lieutenant just growled mumbled something, less nice about women.

Dana turned to Camilla "What the hell, next time let me handle him" she said.

They walked down the road and found Easy Company, Perconte was welcomed and the men were curious about where he picked up the girls.

"Hey you know where Winters are and where is the aid station" Frank asked

"Yeah, the aid station is in the barn and Winters are over there with Buck and Welsh" Liebgott said and turned around and joked around with some of the other guys.

Dana walked over to the aid station and dropped of Charlie on a cot, Camilla who was the medic took over and looked Charlie over.

Dana and Emma walked followed Perconte over to where the officers sat and waited for orders "Sir I got someone who you should talk to" Perconte said and when Winters turned around and saw the girl stand there, in their weird uniforms.

Winters studied the two women and could not help but thought that the blonde was quite attractive and the brunette next to her would definitely be trouble.

"so who are you? and where are you from?" he asked wishing Nixon was there, being the intelligence officer he should be there, to conduct the interrogation.

"Captain Hunter and Captain Grey, US Airborne, 506th, 101st" Emma answered

To Winters knowledge, they didn't have any women in the company and not someone in uniforms like that.

"That can't be, this is the 506th and there are no women in 506th to my knowledge" Winters said

Emma glanced over at Dana and then looked at Winters "Can I talk to you outside lieutenant?" Emma said

Winters knew he had to hear whatever she had to say, Winters led her outside keeping a hand on the small of her back, he couldn't help himself,

Emma noticed Winters hand on her and she felt a shiver running down her spine.

"Look lieutenant, this is going to sound strange, but we are a part of the 506th just 67 years into the future, look here is my id card, dog tags and this is a cell phone and look at my side arm" Emma said.

Winters looked it over and he couldn't explain how the girls had shown up, but time travel, that was to far fetch.

"Look, I can see you don't believe me, in about 10 min, they are going to want Easy commanding officer up front, that's you, because Meehan is dead, his plane crashed, they are going to ask you to take out the 88 we can hear, except its 105 instead, before you take out the last gun the lieutenant from Dog is going to come running getting one of his men shot, because he runs out of the trenches" Emma said

Winters looked at her with doubt in his eyes, yeah he would see that before he believed it, before he could finish the thought, a runner from regiment came running telling Winters they wanted the commander of Easy at regiment.

Winters looked at Emma, she just stared at Winters "well since Meehan isn't here, doesn't that leave you next in line" she smiled at him.

Winters and Emma walked up to were regiment was gathered "Lieutenant Winters, and who the hell are you" Colonel said.

"Captain Emma Hunter, Sir" Emma said.

"Well, I have to deal with you later, Dick there is a four gun battery holding up the invasion, its located over by the manor, I need Easy to take them, the boys are stuck on the sand until it's done" Colonel said.

"Yes sir" Winters said and turned around and walked out to find Easy company.

Dana followed Emma over to Easy and listened to Winters give the men their orders, he ordered them to only bring ammunition and leave everything else. Dana and Emma decided to tag along, to witness one of the great strategies from their lessons from West Point.

"You two hang back" Winters said when they moved out.

* * *

**_At the Aid station._**

"Looks like you broke a rib and you have a ricochet in your behind" Camilla said with a chuckle.

Charlie moaned "Well hurts like a son of bitch" She said

"Well you are better off than some of the guys here, so get up so I can bandage you" Camilla said.

Camilla bandaged Charlie and sends her on her way, she helped the other medics treat the wounded and she was so good at it, that they didn't ask any questions; Camilla used some new methods and saved some men faster than some of the other medics.

Charlie was wandering outside, trying to find out what she had to do, she stumbled upon the regiment headquarter. She was an intelligence officer back in her company and when she realized she was listening to Hester and Lewis Nixon, she stopped and froze.

This was the Lewis Nixon, a man she had admired, even though he was depictured as a drunk in most litterateur, Charlie knew better, the man had been brilliant.

Nixon turned his head and looked straight at the brunette who was staring at him, she was wearing a strange uniform and she looked a little pale.

Then he noticed she had hard time breathing, he hurried over and grabbed her arm and sat her down.

"Thanks" Charlie said and leaned forward trying to catch her breath.

"Hey Nix, I will be right back" Hester said and walked away.

"Are you ok?" Nixon asked

"Yeah, I just hurt myself during the drop or whatever" Charlie said

"You need a medic" Nixon asked

"No, just saw one, but maybe you would like to share some of the stuff from your canteen" Charlie asked a smirk

Nixon laughed and handed Charlie the canteen with Vat 69 in it, Charlie took a drink and handed it back, to Nixon.

Nixon sat down in front of her "So who are you" he asked

"Lieutenant Charlie Kahne, regiment S2" Charlie said

"how did you get here?" Nixon asked

"Hell if I know" Charlie said

"Ok, we have to get to the bottom of this" Nixon said

"Well ok, the others are at the aid station or with Winters" Charlie said

"there are more of you?" Nixon asked

"Yeah, there are four of us" Charlie said.

Nixon ran his hand through his hair and put his helmet back on, and stalked off to find Sink, to get an explanation.

Charlie decided to stay where she was, she closed her eyes and she fell asleep, she woke up when she heard the other girls sit down next to her.

Dana and Emma went on and on about how they helped in the attack on the guns and how Speirs had taken the last gun almost alone.

Dana sighed, she had always thought he was a fine man, when she was studying Easy at the Point, but seeing him in person, damn.

The girls followed Easy to Culoville where Strayer had set up CP

* * *

_**Regimental HQ**_

" I am telling you the truth" she had explained how they ended up there over and over again, she even told them things the girls had no way of knowing if they hadn't been reading about them in history books, Emma even tried to tell them what was going on at the beach in that very moment.

Sink got on the horn and got a hold of the commanders at the beach, he went silent when he realized Emma had been telling the truth.

Sink looked around "no one breathes a word about this, and you girls, well since you are in the army I a sign you to Easy, I know you two are Captains, but Dick is still in charge he knows the men understood" Sink said

"Yes sir" They said

"Now Nixon and Winters, they are your responsibility and get them some M42 and weapons, except you, you are hereby in charge of the medic's lieutenant Hamlin, now get" Sink said.

The six officers walked out and Emma and Dana let out a sigh, good thing they hadn't been kicked out or court martial, where they would have gone.

Nixon walked of and came back a few minutes later with some uniforms, weapons and everything else they would need to be soldiers in 1945.

The girls walked behind a truck to change, they had to give Nixon that he had a good eye, the uniforms were perfect.

When the girls were done, Winters motioned for them to follow him, it was time for them to meet the men of Easy company.

"So I want you to meet the men, but first your assignments, Captain Hunter you and lieutenant Kahne, will be with first platoon, as platoon leaders, Captain Grey you are with third with Compton and lieutenant you are in charge of the medics, but when third platoon goes on missions you go with them" Winters said and the girls agreed.

"ok… let's go meet your men" Winters said.

The men had settled down in Culoville, Winters took the girls over to the house, the men was staying in. Winters knocked on a door and the company first sergeant opened the door "Lieutenant sir, what can I do for you?" Lipton asked

"Well Lipton, I am here with some, well in lack of a better term replacement officers" Winters said.

Lipton let the group and when third platoon turned, they saw Winters standing at the door with four women, he claimed was the new officers.


	2. Chapter 2

"Captain Grey, this is third platoon, your stop" Winters said.

Dana walked into the room and nodded to the men, they stared at her, they couldn't believe their own eyes, a woman in charge, what was the brass thinking.

"Hey guys I am Captain Grey" Lane said

Winters closed the door and Dana was alone with third platoon.

A blonde got on his feet "lieutenant Compton or Buck" Buck said

"Pleasure" Dana said.

"sergeant Lipton" the sergeant said.

Dana looked around at the rest of the guys gathered in the room, it was hardly a full platoon, but she could work with that.

She turned to Buck "So what can you tell me about what has happened so far" Dana said

"Well this is what left of the platoon, we lost Popeye at Bret court, and he took one in the ass" Buck said.

Dana sat down and took of her helmet and jacket "So where am I bunking?" she asked.

"Captain, won't you be more comfortable with the other officers" Lipton asked

"No, I usually stay with the men, beside how can I get to know all of you if I don't stay with you" Dana shot the men her most flirtatious smile

That broke the ice and in no time they were talking and shooting the breeze, they told her about what they been through at Toccoa and about the chaotic jump. Dana shared stories about her time at West Point, while trying not to reveal too much.

* * *

Emma and Charlie tried to get to know first platoon, who immediately took to them. With Emma's blue eyes she just begged for protection, Charlie didn't really get the time to settle in before she was called away and told there was a change of plan; she was going to be with Nixon at regiment S2. Sink thought he could use info about the future and he had a felling Charlie had a sharp mind and could help Nixon out.

The next morning the call came to move out, they were heading south towards Carentan.

The route was through Vierville to St. Come-du-Mont then across the river to Carentan.

Second battalion quickly took their objectives and Easy was defending Colonel Sinks CP in Angoville-du-Plain

The real problems then started for Dana and Emma; there was too much booze around. The young men was under too much tension to find a simple solution. Dana and Emma was, getting tired of drunken soldiers hitting on them and suggesting really offensive sexual favors. The men from Easy was perfect gentlemen, but didn't hold back on the booze.

It didn't help that the officers weren't much better, the only one not drinking was Winters and he had his own problem with Welsh, who had found a barrel of cognac and tried to drink it all himself, and often Winters wasn't sure he heard what he told him.

Emma and Dana was on their way to talk to Winters, demanding regiment do something about the men's behavior.

Walking into the CP, they saw Winters and Sink standing over a map, Strayer was on the horn talking to the 29th division's commander.

"Captain Grey, Captain Hunter, what can I do for you" Sink asked

"Sir, we were wondering if there has been any measure taken against the men's excessive drinking, sir" Dana asked Sink

"Well, it won't be a problem anymore; we are moving out, we been ordered to take Carentan, so now get" Sink said

"Sir, yes Sir" they said and saluted Sink and Strayer.

Emma let out a breath "a lot of good that did us" she said and smiled when she saw Luz and Bill head their way, they were the two men in her platoon she had become closes to.

"Hey boys, where you guys headed?" She asked

"To find something to eat, you two wants to join us?" Luz said

"Well, how can we say no to two such fine men" Emma said and winked at Bill

The four of them walked over to the first platoons post, Malarkey was attempting cook and everybody was giving him hell about it.

Dana and Emma found a beat up old couch and sat down. They were both starting to get tired and Dana drifted off to sleep, she woke up when she heard a familiar voice talking. She opened her eyes and saw Charlie standing at the door smiling at her.

"Well, hello sleeping beauty" She said and walked over and plumbed down next to Dana.

"Well, you are awfully chipper" Dana said.

"Well, if I tell you this, you need to keep under wraps ok" Charlie said.

"Do tell" Dana said suddenly wide-awake.

"I think something might be going on between Nix and I" Charlie said

"You think or you know" Dana said

"Well, we did have a hot and heavy make out session and I just can't stop thinking about it or him" Charlie said.

Nixon and Charlie had been on a recognizance expedition, when they had stumbled upon a group a Germans. Nixon had quickly grabbed Charlie and pushed her into a hedgerow and pushed her down, they both held their breath and waited for the Germans to walk past them.

When they were sure the Germans was gone Nixon had rolled of her and sighed, Charlie had rolled to her back and looked at Nixon, he was staring back at her and before they knew what happened they were locked together and they hadn't stopped until they were out of breath.

Charlie blushed and shook her head and looked at Dana, who was looking at Charlie with disbelieve in her eyes, sweet little straight up army Charlie making out with a soldier in the bushes.

"Well, you go girl, about time you got some action" Dana said.

"How about you? getting a little something, something or?" Charlie asked Dana throwing her head back and looked over at Dana.

"Oh you know there is only one warrior for me; you know that and still haven't met him yet" Dana said.

"You will I am sure" Charlie said and smiled to Dana.

Dana got up, she had lost her appetite. Charlie and Emma was talking to Liebgott and Luz when she left.

* * *

There had only been one man for Dana most of her adult life, his only flaw was he was born 70 some years before her, he had been the man she had compared everyman at West Point to, knowing very well that no one would ever live up to him.

Emma, Charlie and Camilla had always given her hell about it and Dana had just laughed it off, figuring she would meet someone eventually, never had she dreamed she would actually meet the man himself.

Dana sighed and cleaned up against a building, she was reaching for her lucky stripes, when a lit smoke was handed to her and someone leaned on the building next to her.

"So you are one of the mysteries Easy women" A voice said.

Dana turned her head and looked at the person standing next to her smoking, her heart about stopped; there he was the man of her dreams Ronald Speirs.

"Yeah I guess I am," Dana said

"Well nice to meet you Captain Grey" Speirs said and studied the woman next to him; she was a pretty girl, with her long wavy brown hair and green eyes that looked like they could see into the very debt of your soul.

"You too" Dana said, she opened her mouth to say something more, but he was gone. Dana sighed, yes exactly how history described him.

Heading back to quarters, she couldn't help but smile, she just shared a smoke with Ronald Speirs, and not a lot of women born in 1990 could say they did that.

* * *

"Ok move out, I want noise and light discipline and no playing grab fanny with guy in front of you, Luz" Emma said, they were on their way to take Carentan.

Easy company had their fair share of night marches with Sobel, so they were fully prepared for the march.

After marching two hours Emma stopped the company, Winters walked up to her "What's the problem Captain?" he asked

"We lost Fox company, sorry Dick" Emma said

"It's not your fault, this is about officers crapping out on their training, just send two men out to find Fox" Winters said.

This continued and together with the fact that regiment kept changing orders, Easy and the rest of the 506th were late, not reaching Carentan until 05.30 half an hour late.

* * *

The orders came to attack at 06.00.

First platoon under Emma was on the left side of the road, with second platoon and Welsh on the right and third under Dana was in reserve.

They were in the ditches, everything was Erie quiet. The Germans hadn't revealed their machine-gun position or fired any mortars.

At 06.00 Winters ordered "Move out" Emma kicked off the advance, running down the road toward the t-junction 50 away and her platoon followed.

The German machine gun opened fire straight down the road, it was in perfect position.

When the German opened fire, the seventh man stopped and stayed in the ditch and so did the rest of the platoon, trying to hide from the Germans.

Winters jumped out in the road yelling and screaming at the men to get moving, they didn't move, Winters grabbed them pulling them out of the ditch and pushing them towards the town, Winters was like a mad man yelling at the men and kicking them.

From the back Nixon, Charlie and the rest of the battalion HQ was hollering to Winters to get them moving.

Emma was up ahead trying to deal with German machine gun and Winters knew she was dead if he didn't get the men moving.

Finally the men started to move.

Mean while Emma was taking care of the German machine gun, she wondered where the hell everybody was, she and the men with her tossed grenades at the at the gun, followed by some burst from her carbine.

The rest of Easy poured into the Carentan cleaning out houses, Tipper got hurt and Emma dragged him back to the aid station

Lipton and Dana led third platoon into the intersection, there was an explosion in the street and Lipton got hurt taking some shrapnel in the cheek, wrist and on the top of his thigh. Dana noticed the blood and Lipton's scarred look, she checked his wound.

"Don't worry, everything is where it's supposed to be serge" She said.

"Talbert, carry Lip to the aid station" Dana said.

Talbert walked into the aid station and dropped Lipton on a makeshift cot; he motioned to Doc Hamlin to come take a look at him. Camilla walked and smiled to Lipton, she was a sight for sore eyes, even covered in blood and dirt, Lipton couldn't remember the last time a woman had smiled to him like that, not since before his wife had died "So what happened to you" Camilla asked

"Shrapnel" Lipton mumbled a little dazed from the morphine.

"Well, let's take a look at it" Camilla said and cut Lipton pants up to assess the wound.

She decided it wasn't too bad and that Lipton would live to fight another day.

Taking care of the wounded men and sending them on their way, Camilla weaved around the aid station checking on Lipton every so often.

When the jeep came for him she held his hand "I will see you back in England ok?" She said, and squeezed his hand.

Lipton couldn't wait to see the pretty lieutenant again.

* * *

A counter attack from the Germans was expected and Easy got order to go to high ground and dig in, with Fox and Dog company on their flanks.

Dana had first platoon dig in to a tactical position covered by the hedgerow and Emma did the same after consulting with Dana and Winters.

Ordering two in each foxhole, Dana ended up sharing a foxhole with Sergeant Talbert,

At 0300 Talbert was to be relieved from guard duty and he tapped Smith's helmet with his gun, Smith being scared and sleepy just saw a person in a German Poncho and stabbed Talbert with his bayonet, Talbert cried out and the shout for a medic sounded.

Dana who was half asleep woke up and sprinted to where she heard the shout for medic coming from, she could see Talbert leaning up against a tree and Smith kept repeating "I am so sorry, so sorry"

Camilla and Roe came running and started to work on Talbert, after being told by Camilla he would be fine, Dana decided to walk the line and check on the men.

She made a wrong turn and suddenly found herself walking into someone very solid and she saw Speirs standing there looking at her, "You got some jumpy men in your platoon" he said

Dana smiled "I sure do"

"Walk with me" Speirs said.

Dana walked with him, just before they reached her foxhole, Speirs stopped and Looked at Dana, he ran his index finger across her cheek and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear,

"don't wonder around alone at night, next time it might be the Germans you encounter" And then he was gone.

He was hot as hell, but also frustrating and Dana knew she was falling for him.

* * *

The order came to attack at 05.30 and right on time the attack started, the Germans had superior fire power.

Emma saw a German tank head their way, she grabbed a bazooka and pulled Welsh with her, "I'll shoot, you just load when I tell you to, I have to cook it and its weakest spot is when it tips up" Emma was calm and even when tank turned their 88 at them, she waited for the perfect moment to fire, after firing she just ran back to cover with Welsh hot on her heels.

Charlie was standing on a jeep, with Nixon, Strayer and Sink, watching the Germans almost over run the companies, Dog and Fox had to retreat and that left Easy high and dry.

"get Easy on the horn and tell them to retreat" Sink said

Charlie put her hand on his arm "Don't they will be alright" She said

Sink gave her a suspicious look and just then 2d armored came over the ridge and in minutes they had the Germans fleeing and Easy let the Germans have it.

Welsh screamed "hello beautiful babies"

Dana let out a breath and turned to high five Shifty next to her.

Not long after the 506th was pulled back to Aldbourne


	3. Chapter 3

"Look what I got, four seven day passes to London, girls we are hitting that town" Camilla said and threw the passes on the bed.

Emma just looked at her and rolled over, Dana mumbled something about "yeah whatever" and Charlie just sighed.

"Ok, I was expecting a little more enthusiasm" she said and plumbed down on the bed.

Dana looked at her "is tall, dark, and brooding going" She asked Camilla

"Sure, Lip, Nix, Winters and Speirs, and they are staying at the same hotels as us" Camilla said.

There was a knock on the door and before either of the girls could get up to open it, Nixon walked in "God Captain, we could be changing in here" Emma said and threw a shoe at him.

Nixon avoided the shoe and gave a mumbling apology "Charlie, can I talk to you" He said

Charlie got up and gave him a dirty look, walked out of the room. She leaned up against the wall in the hall way.

"Look…." Nixon started

"you can't talk you out of this one, Captain" Charlie said

"Please Charlie, I didn't expect to meet you ever, you got to admit, it's still is a little strange, having a group of young women with Easy" Nixon said

"That doesn't excuse the fact, that not only are you married, but you also had a girl waiting for you here, what the hell were you thinking?" Charlie asked the sweating lieutenant and looked away so Nixon wouldn't see her tears.

"Please Charlie, I am not seeing the girl anymore, I broke it off as soon as we got back and Cathy and I, are as good as divorced, please just give me a chance" Nixon pleaded.

Nixon had taken to Charlie as soon as he saw her, he was sure she was her soul mate, he didn't even drink when he was with her, she was as important to him as his next breath.

"I am not sure I can Nix, I am not a home wrecker. I will see you in London" Charlie kissed him on the cheek and walked back into the room she shared with the other girls.

She sighed and sat down on her bed and started to cry. Camilla sat down next to her and gave her a hug "Charlie, its not like you didn't know about the wife, that's all in the history books, but the girl here, well we should have thought of that" She said

"I know I just wish he told me himself, instead of me having to hear it from the men" Charlie said.

"You know what will make us feel better" Camilla said and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Some hell rising in London" Dana said.

"Yes ma'am" Camilla said

"As long as Sparky is there, so am I" Dana said

"We are leaving tomorrow at eight" Camilla said

"We best get busy then" Emma said.

The girls got busy. They had to get what few clothing items they had in order and fix their off duty dress uniforms. They hoped to get a chance to shop a little in London, at least for some dresses for dinner and dancing.

Camilla was dreaming of Lipton, the young sergeant she had treated in Carentan. Lipton had been released from the hospital and she had talked him out of going to Scotland, with Gordon.

She also had to use all her charm, to talk Winters into gong with them. Winters had originally planned to stay in Aldbourne, but Camilla told him to go with them and since Winters decided to go so did Welsh.

* * *

The girls was ready the next day, they had gotten 150 dollars, same as the men and they were waiting for the train to London along with the officers.

When the train arrived, it filled up with soldiers and they headed to London and freedom.

They arrived in London and checked into the hotel near Piccadilly and luck would have it, they were on same floors as Lipton, Speirs; Nixon and Winters.

After checking out their room, the girls knocked on Nixon and Winters door, just to let them know they were going shopping and they would meet them for dinner.

The girls found Oxford street and shopped, everywhere they went they were greeted by happy Londoners, who all thank them for their effort in the war.

The paratroopers was the first to return from Normandy and they were treated like heroes, the first day any way.

Whose idea it was, to let all the boys loose in London all at ones, no one ever found out, but they would live to regret it.

The girls ate a late lunch and walked back to the hotel, to drop of their bags and shower, they had forgotten that at the hotels in London had a shared bath at the end of the hall.

After bitching about it, Emma won the right to shower first and she slipped in the shower and turned the water on, she was singing and didn't hear the door open and someone come into the room.

Emma had just put shampoo in her hair, when someone stepped in the shower to her, when she felt some one grab her, she tried to scream, but a pair of lips crashed down on hers.

She had no idea who was kissing her, but if she should take a guess I was Winters, she could feel her body tingle all over and when his hands slipped up to the back of her neck, she opened her eyes and saw she was right, it was the Captain.

Emma pulled away and looked at a blushing Winters.

"Well Captain, I didn't know you had it in you" Emma said and smiled

"neither did I, but when I realized you were in here, I couldn't help myself" Winters said and looked at Emma to see what her reaction would be.

Emma just gave him a big smile and Winters relaxed.

Emma kissed him "Well, we better hurry, the girls are going to be banging down the door in a few, if we don't hurry up" She said

The two of them finished the shower and Emma promised herself it was just foreplay, one way or another Mr. I don't show emotions would be in her bed tonight.

Emma stepped into the room with a big smile on her face "Guess what I just did" She said.

"Ew. We don't want to know" Dana said and threw a pillow at Emma

"Ew no, I just showered with Dick" Emma said and threw herself on her bed.

"excuse me what?" Charlie said

"I just took a shower with Richard Winters" Emma said and giggled

"Well somebody is getting some action tonight" Dana laughed and looked around at the girls

"Just so we are absolutely clear about what is going down tonight, I have every intention of getting ass stupid drunk and make Sparky take me home" she giggled and ran out of the room to hit the shower.

"My guess is, Sparky is going to have her butt for drinking on his watch" Camilla said

The other girls laughed and started to get ready for the Dinner with the other officers.

The dinner was great and the host insisted on paying their bill, with them being heroes and all.

Easy and Dog company was drinking at a pub, not too far from the hotel and the group decided to join them.

When they walked in they noticed Buck, Luz, Guarnere, Toye and the other guys was drinking at a big table in the corner.

The group moved through the crowd and joined the men, they guys vacated some chairs for the girls and they sat down. Winters dragged Emma out on the dance floor, so he could have some alone time with her.

Nixon and Charlie was giving each other dirty looks and Camilla was looking at Lipton, who was talking to Luz.

Luz noticed and nodded toward Camilla, Lipton said something to Luz and stepped over to Camilla and asked her to dance, Camilla agreed and Lipton pulled her into his arms. Camilla put her head on his chest and breathed in his sent.

Lipton pulled away a little, "I have wanted to do this since Normandy," he said

"I have wanted you to since Normandy" Camilla said and put her head back on his chest.

"Hey Captain, I remember you saying something about being able to drink anyone of us under the table" Luz said and drew away Danas attention from the dart game; she was in the middle of with Speirs.

"You remember right, is it you and me or what?" Dana asked.

"yep and a few more" Luz said.

Speirs gave Luz a dirty look and Luz got a little scared.

Speirs went back to the table and sat down; there was an uncomfortable silence at the table. Speirs noticed Nixon and lieutenant Kahne just starring at each other.

"Ok so Nixon, where do you think we'll be going next?" he asked, to break the uncomfortable silence.

Nixon turned and answered him.

Dana was throwing back shot after shot, she had already finished of Luz and Bull, and now Liebgott got his turn.

The boys didn't know that Dana used to drink with the navy seals, so she was pretty though when it came to drinking shots.

After half an hour Winters, Emma, Lip and Camilla came back to the table. Emma noticed Dana at the bar and she could tell she was almost too drunk she was flirting with Liebgott and Talbert.

Emma turned to Speirs "Lieutenant if you don't want Dana to walk out of here with someone who isn't you. You might want to get her out of here and back to bed" Emma said and pointed to Dana who had her arms wrapped around a very drunk Liebgott.

Speirs who had been busy talking to Nixon, hadn't noticed Danas bench drinking, he could tell she was drunk and in a good mood.

He walked up to her and threw her over his shoulder, when he turned to the door she looked up at the guys, "Bye guys, Spanky says I can't play anymore" Dana said

"Captain that's Sparky" Liebgott said, which just made Dana laugh out hard.

She tabbed Speirs on the butt "You would spank me if I told you I was a bad girl, wouldn't you?" Dana said

Speirs rolled his eyes "Don't count on it" He said and walked out of the pub and into their hotel.

* * *

Speirs got the key to his room and walked into the elevator, with a singing Dana on his shoulder, she was singing "Its time to take my drunk ass home, I drank all the whiskey and my money is all gone" Speirs had never heard that song before and he figured Dana just made it as she went along.

He managed to get the door open and he sat Dana down his bed. Dana somehow got a hold of his tie and drew him to her, just as she was about to kiss him, "I am going to be sick" she said and headed for the bath room.

Speirs followed and while she was tossing her cookies, he got down beside her with a wet cloth.

He washed her face, got her back into bed and helped her un dress, which was not all that bad. Speirs tucked her in and was about to head for the couch, when he heard "Ron, please stay with me" he laid down next to her and pulled her close and they both fell asleep.

After an hour the only ones left at the pub was Nixon and Charlie, they still had not said a word to each other.

Winters and Emma had left, and Lipton and Camilla had left not that long after them.

Charlie finally talked to Nixon "Well, I guess I have no where to stay tonight, so can I crash in your bed?" Charlie asked Nixon.

"I guess, but Charlie are you absolutely sure, if I get you in my bed I can't be held responsible for my actions" Nixon said

Charlie walked over and sat down in Nixon's lap, "I am absolutely sure, I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you, its not like I didn't knew about Cathy, but the girl in Aldbourne stung a little, so for future reference let's be honest with each other ok, oh and just so you know, you will be divorced soon" Charlie said and walked out of the pub with Nixon hot on her heels.

He took her hand pulled her to a stop "What do you mean, I will be divorced soon" Nixon asked her.

"Well I shouldn't have said anything, but in April Cathy is going to send you one of those dear Nixon letters" Charlie said and shrugged

Nixon pulled her into a tight embrace "you have no idea how glad I am to hear that" He said and kissed Charlie, she smiled up at him.

Nixon took Charlie up to the hotel room he shared with Winters, who wasn't there and Nixon figured he was in Emma's room.

Which he was and so was Lip and Camilla The four of them was trying not to laugh hysterical of Lipton trying to describe what he had seen when he tried to get into his room.

Speirs had been on his back in the bed sleeping and Dana had been in the bathroom hurling and calling Speirs, Luz and the rest of the boys dirty names, so when Lipton tried to walk into get to bed, Speirs woke up and threw a shoe at him. Dana told him to get the hell out or she would fucking kill him herself.

Therefore, Lipton had knocked on Camilla's door hoping to be able to sleep on the couch, when he saw Captain Winters in there, he froze until Camilla dragged him into the room and pushed him down on his bed and laid down with her head on his chest.

After a little while the girls had fallen asleep.

Lipton looked over at Winters "I don't know where these girls are from, but I just thank god, that it was us who found them in Normandy. The captain saved a lot of lives in Carentan" Lipton said and nodded towards Emma.

"Yeah we sure are, she is one of the best combat leaders I have ever seen" Winters said.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Aldbourne_**

Once back in Aldbourne Winters was faced with the task of reorganizing Easy company.

Half of Emma's first platoon was gone, despite her excellent leadership. Guarnere and Johnny Martin had told her if they lost men at that rate, there wasn't a china man chance the rest of them would make it.

So Johnny and wild Bill got tattoos, because why the hell not? Emma ripped them a new one, lecturing them about the risk of infection.

Emma couldn't stand the thought of losing any more men.

Much to Dana's joy Talbert was back and Gordon had made up a little poem about the night of the bayonet

The night was filled with dark and cold,  
When Sergeant Talbert the story's told,  
Pulled out his poncho and headed out,  
to check the lines dressed like a Kraut.

Upon a trooper our hero came,  
fast asleep; he called his name.  
"Smith, oh Smith, get up, it's time  
to take your turn out on the line."

Private Smith, so very weary,  
cracked an eye, all red and bleary,  
grabbed his rifle and did not tarry,  
Hearing Floyd, but seeing Gerry.

"It's me!" cried Tab. "Don't do it!" and yet,  
Smith charged tout de suite with bayonet.  
HE lunged; he thrust, both high and low,  
and skewed the boy from Kokomo.

And as they carried him away,  
our punctured hero was heard to say,  
"When in this war you venture out,  
best never do it dressed as a Kraut!"

Talbert's only response to this was "I could have shot the little bastard six times as he lunged toward me, I just didn't think we could spare a man at the time" he said

Dana threw herself at Talbert, she was ecstatic he was back; it felt like third platoon was finally getting back together.

The platoon planned a little get together and presented Talbert with one of Gordon's purple hearts.

* * *

Lipton had been promoted to Company first sergeant, he was also starting to worry about the future, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to play college ball after the war, he was being a complete bear about it and snapped at Malarkey at the mess, when he called him crip.

Camilla was sitting with Charlie and Nixon, when she heard Lipton snap at Malarkey.

Lipton had him by his throat and lifted him from his chair and declared he could take him down anytime, anywhere.

Lipton put Malarkey back down and stormed out, Camilla followed him "Hey Lip wait up" Camilla yelled after him, Lipton just kept walking.

Camilla put her hands on her hips "First sergeant Lipton, I order you to stop and talk to me" She said and stormed up to him and grabbed a hold of his sleeve and pulled him into a empty tent.

"Now what the hell is wrong with you? why you snap like that?" she asked

Lipton paced around the tent not knowing what to say, if he couldn't play Football after the war, he had nothing to offer Camilla once all this was over, she was a doctor or almost a doctor and what if he could contribute nothing to this relationship.

"I am just worried that I won't be able to play college football after getting wounded and that made me think about the two of us. You are a doctor and I am really nothing other than a soldier, what do I really have to offer a girl like you?" he said.

"You" Camilla said and walked over and put her hands on his chest "You, and that's all I want. I don't care if you are a professor or you drive a garbage truck, I want you and that's all" She said and kissed him.

Lipton deepened the kiss and pulled Camilla closer, he wished to hell they weren't in an empty tent, but somewhere with a bed.

He pulled back from her and she felt empty and cold, he pulled her close and kissed her on her head, he pulled back a little and looked at her "I guess I should go apologize to Don then" He said

"Yeah, you should" Camilla said and took his hand.

* * *

Emma, Dana and Charlie was sitting in the room, Emma and Dana shared at the billet house on the village green, the men from Easy had cleaned out the staples in the back, there they had plenty room and time to play poker and craps.

Sinks runner came and knocked on the door and told them they were needed at HQ.

They looked at each other and wondered what the heck they had done wrong now.

When they walked into sinks office, they saw Camilla was there, she was in her Army scrubs, which meant she had been dragged away from surgery or something and the look on her face showed it.

Welsh and Compton was there as well.

When Sink walked in, the group stood at attention. "at ease soldiers" Sink said and sat down behind his desk.

The group of Easy officers sat down and waited for what was next.

"As you all know, Easy company did an excellent job in Normandy and General Taylor was very pleased" Sink said

Welsh leaned into Dana and whispered "Good, that's why I went to Normandy, to please general Taylor"

Sink gave him a stern look and Welsh straightened up in his chair.

"For that, the general have some promotion for the lot of you" Sink said

Lieutenant Compton congrats you here by a first lieutenant, Mr. Welsh first lieutenant to you to, you will serve as Winters executive officer, Lieutenant Kahne I wanted captain Nixon to hand you a set of these, that way the two of you would have the same rang, can't have a girl salute her man" Sink said and winked at Charlie

"Captain" Dana said and whistled "Nice, congrats" Dana said and hugged Charlie

"Now the two of you Captain Grey and Hunter, you are here to talk Lieutenant Hamlin into accepting her promotion" Sink said and looked at Camilla

"Thank you, but the answer is the same as in Normandy, No" Camilla said.

"What are you crazy? take the bars Hunter" Emma said.

"No, it's not for me" Camilla said and stood up.

"Guess I can't force you, now I have something for your guys, sergeant stripes and a list over who to give them to" Sink said

"Well, I guess we are finished here" Sink said

The group stood at attention, and waited to be dismissed. Sink looked them over and thought he was glad that bunch was on his side.

"Now get" he said and they were dismissed.

* * *

When they got outside the girls stopped, turned and looked at Camilla,

"Now, why the hell did you turn down the promotion?" Dana asked her

"Being a Captain means commanding a company eventually. I have no interest in commanding a bunch of scared nurses. Well, I don't want to be a captain when Lip is still a sergeant, it would just be wrong, so I am happy where I am at and something tells me, I will be able to change my mind anytime and get the ding dang promotion" Camilla said.

Emma and Dana said goodbye to Charlie and Camilla.

Camilla had to get back to her surgery, hoping the new staff surgeon hadn't fucked up and Charlie had a meeting to attend, it was all she did these days, the good thing about it was she got to spend a lot of time with Hester and Nixon, the bad thing about it was, she had zero alone time with Nixon and she was getting pissed about it.

Charlie needed some alone time with Nix, to scratch an itch and she knew he felt the same way, he was getting more and more withdrawn.

It was time to ask for help from the girls.

Emma and Dana walked over to Easy's mess. Dana did her best Sink impression that brought the whole company to their feet.

She fell over laughing and received threats from Luz and Tab.

"We got some stuff here for some of you" Dana said

"Mr. Guarnere, staff sergeant Guarnere, congrats buddy" Dana said and hugged Bill

"Mr. Malarkey, Mr. Muck, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Ranney, congrats guys, Sergeants" Emma said and each of the guys got hugs from the girls

"Christenson and Gordon you are here by corporals" Dana said and smiled to the two guys "and to celebrate we are all going out tonight, all of us including the replacements" Dana said and gave the replacements a stern look.

Emma turned and walked into lieutenant Peacock, she didn't have a high opinion of him; she wanted him the hell out of the company.

"Lieutenant Peacock" Emma said

"Captain Hunter, are first platoon in there" Peacock said

"Yes why?" Emma said

"Well there is a cross country march on the schedule" Peacock said

"I am very well aware of the fact, that the whole company have a cross country march on the schedule, however we just promoted half of the men, more or less, so they have the rest of the day" lieutenant

Peacock had a hard time handling any diversion from the schedule and he once made first platoon play a baseball game after a long distance march, because it was on the schedule.

Emma knew the man wasn't an idiot, he was just to G.I.

Dana was standing a few feet away trying not to laugh out loud; she knew Dick would get a visit from Emma after this little word exchange.

Dana heard some call her name, she froze. She had been avoiding Speirs since her little display of weakness in London.

She turned and walked away from the voice who was calling her name, but before Speirs could catch up with her, he was called away by Dogs CO.

Dana sighed, she knew she had just once again dodged a bullet, but it was just a matter of time, before he would catch up with her.

Emma stomped into Winters office, Dick shot to his feet, he knew that look on her face, she had a run in with either Peacock or Brewer.

"Dick, look you have to do something about the two. I don't even know what to call them, Peacock bless his little heart lord knows he tries, but the men don't like him and Brewer is just a big boy" Emma said

Winters walked over to her and stopped her pacing; he hugged her and held her out from him.

"You now I can't do anything, I do however expect you to teach them how to be a good combat leader, I trust you" Winters said

Emma sighed "I know, you say that every time" She said and hugged him.

"Dana and I are going out with the guys tonight, so have fun with your reports" Emma said and kissed Winters on the cheek.

* * *

"Oh, you almost got it there lieutenant," Luz said

Luz and Buck was currently trying to hustle Toye and a replacement Heffron at darts, Emma was standing of to the side smiling, shooting the shit with Johnny Martin and Bull.

Dana was in the back playing poker with Welsh, Malarkey, Moore and Alley.

From the sound of it Dana was winning, she was a notorious poker player and she always won. Emma hadn't figured out yet why the guys kept playing with her.

"Lieutenant are you going to shoot lefty all night, I was just wondering, since you know he is right handed" Luz said

Buck put the dart right in the bulls eye and won two packs of smokes from Toye and Heffron.

Emma smiled, she was about to leave, when she saw Speirs walk in with McMillan, the CO of Dog company, she decided to stay, she knew this was going to be interesting. Dana had nowhere to escape and Emma was going to, make her talk to the lieutenant.

Dana looked up and saw Speirs standing at the door, "shit, shit, and shit" She mumbled and looked for a way out.

She grabbed a hold of Bucks sleeve "Is there a back door in this joint"

"I don't think so, why?" Buck asked and when he looked up at the bar, he knew why she had asked that question.

"Trying to run Captain" Buck said laughing

"I have to get out here, like right now" Dana said almost panicking

"I don't think, you are getting away this time" Buck said

Speirs was heading right towards her, he had murder in his eyes and Dana was almost scared, she knew he hated not being in control of a situation. Dana wasn't about to let him take charge of the situation, she straightened her back and waited for what he had to say.

"Captain Grey, a word outside" Speirs said looking at Dana

"Lieutenant Speirs, I don't think so" Dana said

"Captain Grey, just for a minute" Speirs said

Dana looked at Buck and Welsh for help, Welsh nodded towards Speirs signaling she should give him a chance.

"Oh for Pete's sake, you can walk me home" Dana said and put on her jacket.

She stomped out of the pub and turned to Speirs "You wanted to talk, so talk" She said

Speirs never had any woman talk to him like that usually he was the hot head.

"What? you got nothing" Dana said and turned and started to walk away.

A set of hard as steel hands grabbed her, turned her around and pushed her up against the nearest wall, and a pair of hard lips crushed hers.

"Now if you will just shot the hell up, and listen to me" Speirs said and kissed her again.

Dana felt her knees bugle under her and she let out a moan, when Speirs pulled back she let out a small whimper.

Speirs held her up and took her hand and kissed her knuckles, he started to walk towards the officers billet and Dana knew she was in big trouble; she wouldn't be able to resist this man she had loved since she was ten years old. When all the girls was busy planning their wedding to actors and sport starts, she dreamed of marrying Ron Speirs and now she was here with him, holding his hand and walking down the cobbled streets of Aldbourne in 1944.

Speirs opened the door to the house he was billeted in and stepped back, so Dana could walk in, he closed the door behind them and picked her up and carried her to his bedroom.

* * *

The next morning she walked into the house the girls was staying at, all of them was in the kitchen drinking coffee. When she opened the door they all looked up and Camilla walked over and dragged to the kitchen table, pushed her down on a chair.

"Spill" she said

"It was fucking amazing, oh my god, it was mind blowing, like the best ever" Dana said.

"Well, we don't doubt that, its tall dark and handsome after all" Emma said and sighed

"what's up with you, Winters not putting out?" Charlie asked laughing

"No, he haven't, he is so busy all the time and he expect me to work miracles with Brewer and Peacock, both incapable of taking any kind of orders" Emma said

"Well, Nixon and I finally got some alone time last night" Charlie said

Charlie and Nixon had been in briefings about Market-Garden nonstop for the last week, the general assumption was that this one wasn't going to be called off, after sixteen cancelled missions since July, Nixon had started to doubt if they would ever see combat again.

They were dismissed early from the meeting, partly because Nixon and Charlie's concentration was gone and partly because Sink and Strayer was tired of looking at the two love sick Captains, so if they could get whatever it was out of their system, they could resume the briefing tomorrow "And we did three times last night" Charlie ended her story.

"How about you and Lipton" Emma asked Camilla

"Just peachy, he such a gentleman, that I am sure he will have kissed me by the end of the war" Camilla pouted.

Charlie looked around of her friends "Well you know, we are jumping into Holland soon and don't forget we won't be back and then Bastogne, so pack plenty of socks girls" Charlie said.

The girls knew what was in store for them and they couldn't do a damn thing to change history, so all they could do was to prepare the best they could.


	5. Chapter 5

Winters was briefing the company on their new mission

"As you can see, this is called operation Market-Garden. Market being the airborne operation and Market the ground operation. In terms of airborne divisions involved this is even bigger than Normandy. We are dropping deep into occupied Holland, the allied objective is to take this road here between Arnhem and Eindhoven, and so the two British armored can move up toward Arnhem. Our job is going to be, to liberate Eindhoven, stay there and wait for the tanks" Winters said and when he finished Charlie took over.

"The entire European advance has been put on hold to relocate resources for this operation, its Montgomery's personal, we will be under British Command" Charlie said.

There was a lot of moaning and complaining, Charlie couldn't help but thinking, that this whole fiasco could have been avoided, if Patton and Montgomery just could have gotten along.

At this point Nixon took over

"The good news is, if this works, these tanks will be over the Rhine into Germany that could end the war and get us home by Christmas. It will be a day time jump, Intelligence doesn't expect much opposition, they think the krauts in Holland are mostly old men and kids, and we should take them by surprise, in any case say goodbye to England, I don't think they are going to call this one of" he said

The next day Emma, Dana and Camilla were getting ready to jump with the men, Charlie was being briefed on the last Intel there had come out of Holland.

They were bustling around and teaching the replacement how to be ready to fight after the jump. Suddenly Bull stopped and looked around, a jeep with Popeye in the back and Sobel in the driver's seat was pulling up on the air strip

As he drove by, the Toccoa men stopped smiling and just looked at him. The jeep stopped and Sobel got out, he pulled down on his uniform jacket and walked around the supply truck there was tailing him; it had Malarkeys motorcycle in the back.

Popeye jumped down from the jeep and Lipton walked up to him, trailed by a smiling Camilla, who had treated Popeye in Normandy, "Did they let you out of the hospital like that boy?" Lipton asked and laughed

"They didn't let me out, I busted out. I didn't want to get reassigned to some other unit" Popeye said

"Can you make the jump" Camilla asked

"Yeah I can make the jump, I just can't sit" Popeye said

"Welcome back Popeye" Randleman said

"Popeye went AWOL just in time to jump" Lipton said

"Better not let Captain Grey know" Camilla said and hugged Popeye

Bull pointed to Sobel and asked "What is he doing here?"

"Sobel, he is the newly appointed regimental S4" Camilla said

"Supply officer" Bull said

"Yeah, you got it" Lipton said

"He picked me up in Aldbourne, trying to find you guys" Popeye said

"He know you went AWOL?" Bull asked

"He knows, he just said I was lucky I could sit out this jump if I wanted, I said I didn't wanted to, so he said hop in" Popeye said

"Hop in" Bull repeated

"I know, I couldn't believe it either, maybe he is going to court martial me later" Popeye said.

Lip slapped him on the back of the head and they headed off to find Popeye some gear.

Camilla was looking after the two of them with a big smile on her face; she knew Dana would be happy to see a familiar face in her stick.

Moore walked over to Malarkey "Hey mal look there" he said and gestured towards the supply truck which had their bike in it.

Malarkey turned around and mouthed son of a bitch.

Sobel noticed him right away and called out "Malarkey, sergeant Malarkey"

Malarkey saluted Sobel, who turned around and looked at the bike "You thought you get away with it?" Sobel asked him

"What do you mean sir?" Malarkey said

Sobel starred at Malarkey

"Sergeant, that Motorcycle is united states army property, that may not mean anything to you, but that means something to me, where did you find it?" Sobel asked

"That's him alright" Bull said, he was looking at Sobel chewing out Malarkey for stealing the motor cycle.

Sergeant Martin was having troubles with lieutenant who was jump master on his plane, he kept telling him to tap his leg once the green lights came on, and Martin kept telling him he would be right next to the light.

The lieutenant was color blind, and had cheated his way into the Airborne.

**_Occupied Holland September 17_**

Dana was sitting between Talbert and Perconte. She was going to jump as the first paratrooper; she was the jumpmaster on her plane. Dana knew that the initial jump would be fine, but the trouble would start as soon as they had passed Eindhoven.

Lipton had been made jumpmaster on his plane after one of the lieutenants had been injured.

Dana was trying to peak out of the door, it was a beautiful end-of-summer day, with clear blue sky, she enjoyed the last rays of sunshine, nothing would be easy for the next couple of months.

Once over Holland they encountered some anti aircraft fire, but once over the DZ everything went smooth.

The landing field was freshly ploughed, and the only problem the battalion had was to get off the field fast enough, to avoid getting hit by gliders and falling equipment

The March order had Dog Company in the lead, with Easy, HQ and Fox following them.

Emma had point with first platoon. She was walking between Dog and Easy, which meant she had to listen to Welsh stupid remarks and Luz doing impressions of all the officers up at HQ, it was fun, but she knew they needed more noise discipline.

"Will the two of you be quiet?" She said to the two men behind her

Luz looked at her "sure thing Captain" he could tell Emma was enjoying all the fun, but they also needed to quiet, since no one exactly where the enemy was hiding.

Camilla was tracking behind with the rest of the medical personal, she missed being upfront with the men, and she was getting annoyed, she was used to up front where things was happening.

They were heading down the road towards Son. The residents in the town were happy to be liberated and were flying the royal orange flag.

They handed out fruits and beers to the soldiers, Dana and Emma got many strange looks, and the Dutch was not expecting to see women with the Yanks.

Charlie was walking next to Winters "Do you think all the Dutch will be this happy to see us?" She asked him

"I hope so, let's see if the whole operation goes this smooth," Winters said.

"Don't count on it" Charlie mumbled under her breath.

* * *

About a kilometer from the bridge they were supposed to secure, the column was fired upon by a German 88 and a machine gun. When the fire started Emma felt herself pushed to the ground, by Winters "Stay down", he said

As soon as she felt it was secure, Charlie got up and ran towards battalion HQ, to find out what was going on.

"Nix what going on" Charlie yelled over the firing rifles and exploding mortar shells.

"The Germans are trying to delay us, so the engineers have time to prep for demolition of the bridge" Nix said

As predicted when they were 25 meters from the bridge, it blew in their face.

Emma, who was in front with first platoon, was slung to the ground. There was a hail of debris raining down over her and she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder, and everything went black.

Camilla up to her and poured sulpha on the wound, she noticed a piece of debris in Emma's shoulder, she removed it and bandaged the wound and sent Emma back to the impromptu aid station. A lot of men had been hit by pieces of debris from the bridge.

Dana was busy getting her men across the river on the bridge there had been set up, it could only hold on man at the time, so it took forever to get the entire second battalion over.

Charlie was running around, like a crazy person. The Intel provided for them was obviously wrong, and she was trying to straighten the rumors from fact.

Emma woke up in the aid station "What the hell happened?" She moaned when she came through

"Hey welcome back, you took a piece of debris to your shoulder and got knock out when some debris hit you in the head," Camilla said

"You needed some stitches, and you are going to be sore for a while, other than that you will be fine, which we have been trying to tell your boyfriend and here he comes again," Camilla said.

Winters barged through the door "Oh thank god, you are ok, you scared me good out there" Winters said

He walked over took her hand in his, he searched her face, he had been scared out of his mind when he saw her go down, hit by debris from the bridge, he looked at her "I can't stay, are you sure you are ok?" He asked

"I will be fine, just make sure Welsh takes good care of my boys, ok" Emma said

She turned to Camilla "Is this going to take me out or what" She asked her

"You will be fine, I stitched you up and you will be fine" Camilla said

"besides, the guards armored Division, has been help up south of Eindhoven, and we need every man and woman out there, just take it easy ok" Camilla said

"Ok let me get out of here then" Emma said

"Here I scrounged you up a clean shirt," Camilla said

Emma walked out of the barn and the first person she ran into was flustered Dana "I just heard, are you ok?" She asked her

"I am fine, now let's get this show on the road" Emma said

"First platoon on me" she yelled and her boys were there in a split second.

That night the girls got together and bunked down in the aid station, it didn't take long for Nixon, Speirs, Lipton and Winters to show up there.

The group talked most of the night and just enjoyed being close.

* * *

The next morning the march continued. Charlie was in a Jeep with Strayer and Nixon, the column stopped and Sink spread his regiment with second battalion on the left.

Charlie stood up in the back of the jeep, and looked at the reason why the column had stopped. She saw Lieutenant Brewer standing in the middle of the road, with his binoculars and Map case at his side.

Emma saw him as well, she was walking along the road side with Randleman and she fought an urge to roll her eyes, and she swore under her breath, "what a fucking idiot, he could practically be screaming to the Germans shoot me, shoot me I am an officer"

"Get a load of General Patton" Emma said

Randleman looked up and started to yell at the lieutenant. Winters was screaming in the radio "get back, get back, drop back" Brewer never responded

A shot rang out and Brewer fell to the ground, he was hit just below the jaw line. The entire regiment took cover in the ditches

A medic ran to Brewer, he was hit in the knee, Camilla ran up on the road. Lipton was next to her at that point tried to stop her.

"Stay here, you don't need to be hit as well" He pleaded with her

"I can't, I am needed up there, sorry" Camilla kissed him real quick and ran up on the road. The sniper was shooting at her, but kept missing her and in an instant Roe was next to her, he dragged the medic down in the ditch while Camilla worked on Brewer.

The sniper was found and shot and the column continued.

They entered Eindhoven and the whole town was filled with happy Dutchmen and women. The hardest part was driving the men through town.

The officers was screaming "keep moving, keep moving", but it was impossible, the men was offered food and shots of brandy and the women was kissing them. A big busted lady had gotten a hold of Perconte and was squeezing him hard, with her bosom.

Luz ran up to Dana "See all these happy people, the girls are real eager to kiss the guys, how about a kiss for a lonely soldier?" Luz said with a smirk

Dana looked at him "Ok, one little kiss, Luz and it's the last one," Dana said

Just as Luz leaned into get his kiss, he felt a hand on his forehead and looked into a pair of ice-cold eyes "Keep moving soldier," Speirs said.

Dana was about to pee herself, at the look on Luz face, it was too funny.

Shrugging Luz moved on "Captain Grey" Speirs said

"Lieutenant Speirs" Dana said and moved on as well.

Dana and Speirs walked side by side, both of them wanting to talk to the other, but unable to find the words that needed to be said.

Dana felt a sense of peace having Ron walking beside her, she was afraid he had put distance between them because of her drunken offer.

Speirs was trying to keep calm, seeing her leaning into kiss Luz, was more than he could handle, he wanted to rip her away from him and whisk her away, away from the men and away from the war, to somewhere she would be safe.

They walked so close, that their fingers brushed against each other's and Dana wanted to grab his hand, but was afraid of being rejected.

Speirs had a strong urge to take her hand, but he knew he couldn't, not in public. The feelings he had for her still confused him. He felt overly protective of her, but they were in the middle of a war, and were it really the best time to start a relationship?

A young woman grabbed a hold of Speirs and kissed him; Dana just looked at him and felt like she just got a punch in her stomach, when she saw the happy smile on his face.

Dana gave him a cold look and stalked off.

Meeting up with Welsh, Nixon and Winters, Emma and Charlie.

Buck met up with them "What's up Welshie" He said

"Snipers" Welsh said

The all covered up their insignias; you never knew where the snipers were.

The officer came across a crowd who was clapping and shouting. It was the resistance cutting the hair off some women.

"What the heck is going on?" Welsh asked

"it's the women, who slept with the Germans, they are lucky the men got shot" Emma said.

"We need to move on, get the men and move on," Winters said.

* * *

The Bridge over the Dommel River was secured. Emma and Dana were sitting around with some of the men from E. Company's second platoon, when a runner from the company's CP came and told them they were needed at the CP.

Walking into the CP, they saluted Strayer who had been promoted to lieutenant colonel.

"Captains, we need the two of you to keep a strict eye on your replacements, we are worried about how they are going to react once in combat" Strayer said

Nixon and Charlie was studying a map on an old table in the corner, Charlie turned and winked at the girls.

Charlie had talked Strayer into giving the girls a pep talk; she knew they would need it, to keep the platoons together.

"You are doing a great job so far, keep it up" Strayer said

* * *

Late that afternoon the Brits finally showed up, they set up housekeeping and proceed to make tea.

Emma was shaking her head at them. Winters was a little outraged that they didn't have any urge to keep moving on Nijmegen. When Charlie and Emma confronted the Brits with this they were told not to interfere in British business

Around dinnertime, the rest of the Brits arrived and the 506th initial task was over.

The battalion spend the night In hastily dug Foxholes. Emma was sharing foxhole with with Randleman, she wasn't there a whole lot she spend most of the night walking the line, her shoulder hurt and she wasn't about to complain, she could take it.

Charlie had made plans with Nixon to walk the line around midnight, so she walked towards the HQ, she stumbled into a hard body, and she looked up and looked straight into the eyes of Speirs

"Where are you going?" He asked her

"I have a little recon to do" Charlie said

"Alright Carry on" Speirs said smirking, he knew Nixon, there would probably be some hanky panky as well.

When Nixon saw Charlie walk towards him, he smiled. He would miss her if she suddenly disappeared out of his life, she was his rock, and she had a sudden calm aura around her.

"Ready" He said and held his hand out to her

"Guess" She said and they started to walk in silence, they crouched down when they heard someone walking towards them, but it was just some men from the third battalion walking past them.

Nixon looked at Charlie with a big grin on his face, and before Charlie knew what happened, Nixon's lips were on hers. He pinned her down in the grass and the recon there happened that night was… well not of the kind there profited the war effort.

Dana was sitting in her foxhole alone, her buddy had just gone on guard duty, and she was pondering the whole war and her relationship with Speirs. She wasn't exactly clear on what their encounter in Aldbourne had meant to him.

She heard someone coming towards her foxhole "Times" She said and a voice replied "Square" and Speirs jumped in her foxhole.

"how you holding up?" he asked her

"I am fine, I just pondering this whole war and what I am going to do when it's done" Dana said

"Well I don't know what you will do when it's over, but right now I suggest you come over here" Speirs said and opened his arms

Dana slipped into his arms and he kissed her, it got pretty hot, real fast and Speirs knew he had to stop her right then and there.

Dana was kissing his jaw line "Stop, I need to go" he said

Dana knew he was right, and she admired him for his strength. But she felt cold and alone when he left.

Winters was checking in on Emma in the aid station, her stitches had ripped and she had been send to the aid station.

He found Lipton there with Camilla talking and holding hands, he was sorry to interrupt their cozy moment.

Camilla noticed him standing in door; she just put her fingers on her lips and signed toward a cot where Emma was sleeping.

He sat down and took her hand she sighed and kept sleeping.

Camilla and Lip had found a cot in the back and was sleeping; Winters decided to get some rest as well and lay down next to Emma.

* * *

The next day they continued towards Neunen, Webster made a crack about that is where Van Gogh was from.

Just out of Neunen, they once again encountered enemy fire.

Charlie was standing back with battalion watching the men fight, she wanted to be in there fighting with the men, and she saw a British tank go up in smoke, even though sergeant Martin tried to warn him.

Compton was hit in the butt and the men dragged him back towards the trucks.

The battalion fell back, just when they were about to move out, Gordon and Stroh came running towards the column, they jumped a fence and climbed on board a truck.

Emma had done an exceptional job and had kept her platoon a live and first and third platoon was the ones with the least wounded and killed.

The two Captains had led by example and Winters couldn't help, but being proud of them.

Winters were upset, they had to retreat and Emma wasn't in a better mood, if it hadn't been for Dicks calming presence, she would have lashed out against the intelligence officers.

Winters, Charlie, McMillan and Nixon was heading towards Battalion HQ, they could hear Colonel Strayer and his staff laughing in there.

"What the hell do they have to laugh about?" Emma said

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's about to end" Winters said

The officers entered the HQ and Strayer turned to Winters and Emma and asked how they did today.

"Well we took a hell of a licking, and Easy lost fifteen men, and Dog about the same" Winters said.

Dana grabbed a cup of coffee and walked outside, she was looking up at the sky, and she was watching the Germans bombing Eindhoven and the British Supply convoy.

She felt some beside her, Welsh and Speirs was standing besides looking at the same inferno; "Guess they won't be greeting us with orange flags tomorrow" Welsh said and walked off.

Dana sighed and looked at Speirs "This is bad, and just so you know, it's going to get much worse" She said

Speirs looked at her "How can it get any worse?" he said

Dana turned and hugged Speirs "It just can" She said and walked off.

Dana met a group of Easy men, on the move "Where are you going?" She asked them

"Sergeant Randleman is missing ma'am, so we are going a patrol to find him" one of the replacements Garcia said.

Emma was walking towards them, she noticed Dana talking to some of her men."Hey boys where are we going?"

"To find Sergeant Randleman ma'am" Garcia said

"Please don't call me ma'am, I am going with you" Emma said

Emma moved out the squad to go search for Bull.

Winters was pacing up and down the line, Emma was missing.

He asked her first squad, she was usually with them when she was nowhere to be found, Emma had told them where she was going, but had instructed the men not to tell Winters.

"We don't know where she is Captain, we haven't seen her in a while" Smith said.

Winters just gave them a glare and walked of, they were holding something back, and he was going to find out what.

Winters found Luz and Talbert.

"Luz, Talbert, would any of you happen to know where Emma is" He asked

Luz gave Talbert a frightened look "She went on a rescue mission with Randleman's squad" Talbert said

"And you let her go, she is wounded for Christ sake" Winters turned and marched of, he was going to give her a piece of his mind when she returned.

Early in the morning the squad and Emma returned in a jeep with Randleman, they had found him walking along the road, and when a jeep passed by, they had all hopped on board.

Winters noticed she was back and he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her of.

He found a peaceful place and hugged her, all his anger had disappeared when he saw she was alright.

"I should have known you would be alright, you are the best, don't ever sneak off again" Winter said

"I won't, promise" Emma said

* * *

**_September 22 1944_**

The Battalion got orders to move towards Uden; Dana and Charlie was busy setting up CP and road blocks. Emma had delegated the task of setting up first platoons road block to Welsh.

Emma was with Winters, they had decided to check on the road blocks, the British tank was right where it should be and so was the road block, but there were no soldiers to be found anywhere. There was a manor on one side of the road and a tavern on the other side.

"Where the heck is everybody?" Emma asked Winters

"I don't know, but we are about to find out" Winters said and ran over to the manor and knocked on the door.

Emma reached manor just as the maid opened the door.

They somehow made it clear to the maid they wanted to see a soldier.

The maid led them down a hall to a large lavish furnished living room, sitting on the floor in front of a blazing fire, was a beautiful Dutch girl sharing dinner with a British lieutenant, he turned his head and looked at the two officers "is my tank still outside?" was all he said

Emma got angrier than she had been in all her life, she walked over and grabbed the lieutenant by the ear, and she pulled him to his feet and dragged him outside.

"When you address an officer you say ma'am or sir" Emma said pushed the lieutenant down the street towards his tank.

"now, you set that road block up, or I will rip up a vital part of your anatomy and stuff them down your throat" Emma yelled at lieutenant.

The British lieutenant looked at Winters who just shrugged.

Both men were a little surprised by the choice of words.

"Let's go find Welsh" Emma said and walked towards the tavern, she was pretty sure that where they would find first platoon.

And just as they thought, they found Welsh and first platoon sacked out on the bar, Emma got even more pissed off, she looked over at Winters who just signaled go ahead.

"WELSH, GET THE FUCK UP, YOU SLEEPING FUCKER" Emma yelled

Welsh shot up from his spot on the bar and Emma grabbed him by the ear and dragged him outside, "now, set up the road block, or I will rip of your head and shit down your shoulders, got it" Emma said

Welsh nodded and Emma stalked off to yell of the sleeping men.

Winters and Welsh could hear Emma yelling at the men threatening with everything under the moon, something about lining them up against the wall and shooting them.

They could hear the men mumbling something and then laughter, Emma came out smiling and headed towards Winters and Welsh "All taken care of," she said

Welsh looked at Winters "Sure she is not related to Sparky?" he said

Winters looked at him "Just be glad she didn't shoot you between the eyes, are we clear on the road block Harry" Winters said

"Yes, krystal" Harry said.

* * *

Second battalion caught up with each other in Uden. Dana was searching for Speirs in the crowd of soldiers praying he wasn't hurt, she couldn't find him anywhere, she was starting to panic, when she felt a pair of hands grab her by her waist, she turned around and looked at Speirs she, let out a breath and hugged him, he just smiled and walked away.

Dana looked after him and went out to find Winters, she wanted to know how the rest of the company was doing, and she found him at the CP.

"Good you are here" Colonel Sink said.

Charlie had been called to the CP and she arrived at the same time as Dana, Charlie went over and stood close to Nixon and Dana tried to make her invisible.

"What's going on" Charlie asked Nixon

"We are taking Veghel and moving south" Colonel Sink informed them and continued to explain the mission.

Charlie shook her head; it would end badly no matter what they did here on after.

Dana shook her head and slipped out, she found Emma and Camilla at the aid station, "get ready, we are taking Veghel, start hoarding for Bastogne"

Emma shook her head, she had just gotten her men through Neunen and now they were walking into another fight, where the Germans would be superior.

Emma once again saved most of her men, but Dana was struggling.

Charlie was observing the attack from behind to parked Jeeps.

Nixon was standing beside her, they were hoping everything would go smooth, and then suddenly Charlie heard a loud ping and noticed Nixon had hit the deck.

Deanna and Winters was on him immediately "Oh god Lew are you ok" Charlie said

"Yeah I am fine, I am ok, am I ok, stop looking at me like that" Lew said.

Nixon had been hit by a bullet; it had went through his helmet, but only left a burn mark on his forehead.

The men got loaded into the back of trucks and the battalion retreated.

Once Easy got off the Line, Camilla hurried to the aid station to help out with the wounded, she worked for what seemed for days after fourteen hours she was dead on her feet.

Lipton found her sitting against the wall of the aid station sleeping, he picked her up and carried her to his billet and laid down with her, she was very committed to the men, so much she would work herself to death, he had to take care of her and make sure she was alright.

Lipton kissed on top of her head before he fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Easy was sent to defend the Island, a long narrow area north of Nijmegen, between the lower Rhine and the Waal River.

Charlie and Nixon latest intelligence reported that, the German 363d Volksgrenadier Division was in vicinity and received order to clear the Island

Emma and Winters was riding in a jeep together in the front of the column, they were on their way to relief the 43d Division, who had suffered heavy casualties trying to rescue the British 1st Airborne Division. As they drove forward the British Tommie's were withdrawn in trucks.

"Look Dick, have you ever seen more dispirited soldiers?" Emma said

Winters took a good long hard look at the soldiers in the truck, "No I don't think I have" He said.

* * *

The column stopped and Easy company got out of the trucks. Winters gathered the officers "Ok Listen up, We are holding the right of the battalion line. Dog will be on our right and Fox in reserve, we are covering one and one half mile, so I want strategic OP's. CP will keep in contact with the OP's via radio and contact patrols" Winters said

He looked around his officers; he could tell they were tired, first platoon had been hit hard at Veghel and needed a break.

"Emma, you and first platoon will stay in reserve, I want second and third out there on the line"

Dana went out to her platoon "Third platoon on me" the men gathered around her, not long after that Lieutenant Peacock called ordered his platoon too follow him, and together they marched the platoons out on the line and dug in.

Dana had her men dig in low and told the OP's to watch out for any Germans infiltration "We are spread so thin, that I need you guys to watch the line carefully" Dana looked around at her men who all nodded.

Danna dug in, she shared a foxhole with Guarnere. Wild Bill had commandeered a motorcycle and he used it to ride back and forth between his squad members. Suddenly a shot rang out and Guarnere was hit in the leg, he flipped over. Dana could hear the distinct sound of a bone breaking; he also took some shrapnel to the butt.

Dana saw the whole thing, she hurried down to the foxhole where Roe was sitting "Gene you're needed up front, Bill just took a beating by that bike of his" Dana said

Dana and Roe ran up into the field. Roe gave Bill a quick examination and they bandaged him up and Roe concluded that Bill had a broken Tibia.

Bill was taken back to the Aid station, "Wild bill, any excuse to come and see me" Camilla said

"Well you know me Doc, anything to see a pretty face" Bill said

Camilla Stitched up Bills leg wound and removed the shrapnel from his Butt "Sorry Bill, I can't set your leg here, you my friend earned yourself a ticket back to England" Camilla said

"Damn, well at least I will see Buck there" Bill said

"Just be nice to nurses sweetie, and you will be back to shooting krauts in no time" Camilla said

Camilla walked over to the barn where first platoon had set up shop, she needed to tell Winters about Bill and she could use some coffee and good company. Camilla was getting tired of the regimental Doctors and the air head nurses; they knew nothing and the Doctors liked to pretend they knew everything.

Camilla walked into the barn, she was immediately greeted by bunch of hellos and where have you been.

Camilla walked up and sat down between Emma and Winters "Guarnere got shot by a sniper, and he broke his leg flipping with his bike and he took some shrapnel to the butt, I shipped back to the rear and from there to England" Camilla said

"Is he going to ok?" Emma asked Camilla.

"Yeah, he is going to be back in no time" Camilla said and got up.

Lipton was sitting in a wad of hay, tending to his gear; Camilla sat down next to him

"How are you holding up?" Camilla asked

"I am just fine, how about you?" Lipton asked her

"I am dead on my feet and I need to sleep, other than that I am just peachy" Camilla said and let out a big yawn.

She leaned back and fell asleep; Lipton hoped she would get a chance to sleep, at least for a little while.

* * *

For the past day and a half Dana and third platoon had been sitting out on the line with no action, the men was getting nervous and Dana walked up and down the line to make sure everybody was sharp and ready to fight.

She had bumped into Ron one night, they hadn't seen each other for about a week and Dana was very happy to see him, they only talked for a couple of minutes, but the kiss he had given her, was something she would remember for a long time.

Dana jumped into the foxhole of Joe Toye and Joseph Liebgott, "How are we holding up boys?" She asked them

"Well you know we are just sitting here eating stale British rations and smoking hay cigarettes" Toye said

Dana could sense he was getting demoralized "I got something for you, if you keep it a secret" She said

"What Captain?" Toye asked her

"Luckie's" Dana said and pulled out a pack of lucky stripes

"Where did you manage to get these" Toye asked

"Well there is a lieutenant in Dog company, who will do pretty much whatever I ask" Dana said and winked at them.

She threw them a couple of smokes and wandered down to the next OP.

She walked the line most of the night and talked to the boys and smoked a lot of cigarettes.

Dana send out a patrol of four men led by Youman, the patrol got caught by a surprise, and all of the men were wounded by small arms fire, Alley got the worst of it and Dana send them back to Winters.

* * *

First platoon was in the barn. The new guys were showing the replacements around, they were told they got the pent house, which meant the hay loft.

Emma was sitting next to Winters both of them was securing their grenades, they talked back and forth about where the Germans was most like to attack and what platoon should be in the lead.

Talbert came over and down besides Winters and Emma.

"The new guys is giving the replacement the what for and why is, I swear one them has never shaved" Talbert said

Emma looked at Talbert and smiled

Winters just continued to wrap tape around his grenades "Yeah, kids" he said

Luz was eating some crackers and Emma was trying to snatch some from him, he kept being too fast and Emma ended up ordering him to fork over some crackers.

Luz looked at Talbert "this is a hell of a dog" Luz said about Talbert's adopted German shepherd

"What did you call it Tab?" Winters asked

"Trigger, here you go" Talbert said and threw a stick for the dog to fetch.

"That's good I like that, Trigger" Luz said.

"You heard anything on this" Talbert said and motioned to the Radio

"No, it's all quiet" Luz said

Just as he finished, Liebgott And the patrol barged through the door

"We have penetration, its Alley he is hurt" Liebgott said. Alley had gotten the worst of it, he had thirty two holes in the left side, face, neck and arm.

"Where did it happen?" Emma asked

"Crossroad, we encountered a large body of Germans, three quarters miles of the CP, they have made a major breakthrough of the lines, and we were fired upon by heavy machine gun" Strohl said

"We need to check this out, Dick you with me" Emma said

"Yeah, Lipton assemble me a squad" Winters said

"First squad on your feet, weapons and ammunition only, let's go, let go, let's go" Lipton yelled

He pulled on his gear and Camilla who was tending to Alley looked after him, she knew this was potentially dangerous operation, and she really wanted go with them, but Alley came first.

"Ok get his legs up, hey Alley look at me you are going to be ok, stay with me" Camilla made an initial examination and stabilized him before she got him to the aid station, he would be getting a ticket to England, she hoped he would get a bed next to Guarnere.

Emma and Winters led the patrol to where the encounter had been, as they neared the crossroad, they could see and hear intermittent machine gun fire with tracers flying towards south.

"This is our fallback position" Winters said

"Mortars deploy here" Emma told Malarkey, Muck and Penkala

The rest of the squad got within firing position of the German machine gun. Emma told Christenson and Dukeman where to set up the Machine gun. Winters told the men which man to aim for and on his first shot, the rest of them started to fire, they got seven of the Germans and fell back.

"Luz, get up here" Emma said

"Sure thing, captain" Luz said

"Get on the horn and get Welsh to send of the balance of first platoon, and Reis with his section of light machine guns" Emma told him.

* * *

While Emma had her hands full with Germans at crossroad. Dana and Speirs was talking on the line, Speirs had seen the Company of SS assembly near the ferry crossing, he wanted to get a closer look at it. Dana and him was discussing how to do it.

"How are you going to get a patrol a cross the River unnoticed?" Dana asked him

"We cross at the least noticeable point" Speirs said

"Ok, but be careful and don't do anything stupid" Dana said

"it will be fine" Speirs said

The two of them just starred at each other for a moment and Speirs turned and walked away.

Dana could hear him assemble a patrol and their dive into the river, she thought he was absolutely mad, but knew there was no changing his mind.

Dana was waiting anxiously for the patrol to return, she was sitting with Toye and she was edgy. Toye was considering kicking her out of his foxhole.

"Will you sit still, some of us wants to get some sleep" Toye said and turned his back to Dana

"Joe, come on don't be…." Before Dana could finish, Gun shots were heard and Dana jumped out of the foxhole and ran towards Dog Company's line. She heard some shouting for a medic and panicked, she saw the patrol wading to shore and a body being carried. Dana skid to a hold. Her heart almost stopped when she saw Speirs on the ground, he had been shot in the butt, while trying to cross back from the German side.

"What the hell happened?" Dana said

"Sorry Captain, the krauts saw us and started to fire, the lieutenant got shot in the behind" The private said

Dana sat down next to Speirs, the medic was busy trying bandaging him up, "Guess this is what happens, when you put your butt on the line" Dana said to him

Speirs was on a happy morphine high "Hey, just the Captain I wanted to see, I love you, you know that right, you are so pretty, I want to take you home with me" Speirs said in a happy voice very unlike him

Dana tried not to laugh, oh yeah he was high as a kite "Sure you do, let's get you out of here" Dana said

She turned to the medic "How much morphine did give him" Dana said

The medic tried to hide a smile "Enough it seems, this wound will get him a ticket to England, Captain so say goodbye to him" The medic said

Dana leaned over Speirs and looked him in the eyes "Goodbye Sparky, be nice to the nurses" Dana said.

"Always, take care princess and stay away from Luz" Speirs said

Speirs got picked up by a jeep and Dana was starring after the jeep.

Dana walked back to the foxhole she had jumped out of earlier; Toye opened his eyes and looked at her, "What was that all about?"

"Speirs got shot in the butt" Dana said and sat down and fell asleep.

* * *

Full daylight at had reached the squad at the crossroad before the balance of first platoon had arrived.

Winters called, Emma and Talbert together, "Talbert take third squad to the right, Emma take the left with first squad and I will take second squad up the middle. Reis I want your machine guns placed between the columns and I want good covering fire until we reach the roadway. Then lift your fire and move up and join us. Fix bayonets and get in line as quickly as possible. Emma when everybody is in position, I'll give you a hand signal and you drop a smoke grenade to signal our jump-off" Winters told them.

Emma and Talbert went and assembled their squads, and on the smoke signal the base of fire commenced.

Emma noticed Winters was all alone on the road leading to the dike, she ran up to him, they realized they were in the rear of a company of German paratroopers.

Emma and Winters started to shoot at the Germans, and then duck to cover, the rest of first platoon, reached the position and fired at the Germans.

The Germans started to retreat to the dike and Winters called in artillery, it was like a turkey shooting.

Winters called in a platoon from Fox company and they pursued the Germans toward the river in a leap frog maneuver. Easy and fox eventually got into a bottleneck position and Winters called of the attack, they had faced about 300 Germans and survived.

Emma set a couple of strong points along the cross road and by that time the mortar and artillery had stopped, Nixon and Charlie showed up, to see how thing were.

"Twenty two wounded, fifty killed Germans and eleven captured" Winters said

Nixon, Winters and Emma was walking along the road a group of German prisoners was walking past, suddenly a gunshot was heard and Charlie fell to her knees and the fell over. Nixon was on his knees next to in a split second, "No Charlie, stay with me, please baby stay with me, don't close your eyes, look at me, MEDIC" Nixon screamed

Winters looked at his devastated friend "Nix, you have to let go of her, Camilla will look at her, Nix let get her down on her back" Winters tried to reason with his friend,

Camilla came running and took a look at Charlie and stuffed her fingers into the wound to find the bullet, it had hit the lung and Camilla kept her finger in the wound.

"Get a jeep, we need to get her to the hospital, NOW" Camilla screamed

A Jeep pulled and Camilla was sitting on top of Charlie, so they had to carry her on the stretcher as well.

"Don't worry Lew, I'll take good care of her" Camilla said and told the Jeep driver to go if he wanted to live.

Nixon was sitting with his head in his hands sobbing. Winters sat down next to him and put his arm around his shoulders "Don't worry she will be fine and back in no time" He said

"She better, that girl on that stretcher is my reason to live" Nixon said and starred out into the blue.

Winters walked up to Emma, "What happened" he whistled between his teeth.

"One the replacements got jumped by a German prisoner, and while they were wrestling for his M1, it went off and hit Charlie" Emma said

She didn't mention the fact that the replacement had been beat by first squad and that the German was shot immediately.

Winters was walking down towards the dike when he was stopped by colonel Sink, "Dick can I talk to you for a minute and find Captain Hunter as well" Sink said

Winters called for Emma and together they turned to Colonel Sink "Now the two of you have done an excellent job in Combat, you have lead Easy together" Sink said

Emma started to protest "Don't Captain I know that the two of you are in this together, Holly Horton was killed this morning, so the two of you are getting a promotion, congrats Captain Hunter you are now the XO of third battalion and Winters you are now the XO of second battalion" Sink said

Emma was ecstatic about the promotion, but this meant she had to leave Easy.

Winters turned and looked at her, she could tell he wasn't happy, but neither of them ever said a word about it, they just followed orders.

Moose Hey liger took over Easy Company

Emma and Winters knew that leaving Easy was the hardest thing they would ever have to do.


	7. Chapter 7

Winters and Emma were extremely bored being the battalions XO; there was too much administration and not any contact with individual paratrooper what so ever.

Emma and Winters shared a loft in the town where the 506th was currently stationed.

Emma was sleeping when; Winters opened the door to the bedroom.

"Get up, we are needed at Regiment" he said

"Go away, they just want to throw more paper work at me" Emma pouted

"Emma you need to get up and get back to your battalion after our visit at regiment" Winters dragged her out of bed and Emma got dressed.

When they walked in to the Battalion HQ, Strayer, and Sink, Nixon, Heyliger and a British lieutenant Colonel was there.

"Ah Captains, good you both have some reports due, and we need a rooster of any supplies we have, and what was left behind by the Brits" Sink told them.

"Yes sir" Emma said.

She walked over to Nixon and looked at him "How are you holding up" she asked him.

"Good, now that I know Charlie will be ok" Nixon said.

They had heard from Camilla, that Charlie was in England in full recovery and she would be back with them within a month.

Sink started to explain about market garden "The Brits lost 8000 men when Market-Garden fell on its ass, which is why Colonel Dobie has been tasked with coordinating some kind of rescue operation, for the red devils who is trapped at Arnhem side" Sink told Nixon and Heyliger

"The Dutch resistances are harboring 140 of my chaps here, just outside a Jerry held town just 15 miles north of the river. My chaps will make their way to the river bank and assemble by the woods here tonight" Dobie said and pointed to a place on the map placed before them.

"Pick a team from Easy company and get them back across the Rhine as fast as possible" Strayer said

"A hundred and forty men" Nixon said

"The Canadian engineers has supplied six boats, the rendezvous point is on isolated land. I swam it myself last night. At approximately 0030 I will signal the V for victory with a hand held red torch, that would be a hand held red flashlight," Dobie said and turned to Nixon.

"All right, we call this operation Pegasus, ok Bob your second battalion is on the spot, get it done" Sink said to Strayer.

Strayer turned to Nixon "Captain Nixon assist Colonel Dobie in any way possible, you need anything at all, you come to me" Strayer said to Nixon

"I can hardly ask for more" Dobie said

Emma and Winters hung around the HQ; Dobie was explaining the operation.

They walked out of the HQ and walked over to the aid station, to get Camilla on the job with making a supply list.

Camilla looked at them "I know why you are here" She said and held out a piece of paper to Emma

Emma looked at it, Camilla smiled "A complete list of medical supplies and what was left by the 43rd" Camilla said "So get out of here I have work to do" She continued.

* * *

Winters and Emma went their separate way. Emma walked back to the CP for third battalion, she felt a little guilty not spending the night at the CP, but they knew where to find her, if she was needed.

She walked into the CP and saw there was a lot going on. Her battalion commander greeted her when she walked in "Captain Hunter, just the person I needed, we have been tasked with making inventory of our supplies, and I delegated the task to you" He said

"I know, I just came from HQ" Emma said

Her relationship with the CO was strained, not because she was a woman, but because Emma was a better leader than the CO, she had put him in his place on her first night at Battalion and she now wished she was back with Easy.

While Emma was busy taking inventory, Dana spend some time with her men, they were teasing her about Speirs getting shot in the ass and Dana was just laughing at them and told they should accept as a an honorary Easy company member, since it was kind of a tradition in Easy to be shot in the ass.

Dana was in the process of field stripping her Thompson, when Heyliger appeared at the door to third platoons billet.

"Captain Grey, a word" Heyliger said

"Yes sir" Dana said

Dana was a little upset that she didn't get Easy when Winters was promoted, she had tried to talk to Sink about it, but there was no changing his mind.

Easy needed at least one experienced platoon leader and she was the best they had.

Peacock and Shames was too inexperienced and Buck was still in the hospital and Welsh was just… well himself, he served as Company XO.

Moose studied the Captain, she looked tired and the light in her eyes had disappeared, he figured it had something to do with the fact Speirs was gone and she was worried about him.

That wasn't why, Dana had combat fatigue and needed to be somewhere else, preferably with a tall, dark, Lieutenant.

Moose and Dana walked over to the Company CP and sat down on an old couch.

"The operation is set to go off tonight, have you picked your team from your platoon?" Heyliger asked

"Yes, twelve men as ordered" Dana said

"Good and are the ready? And more importantly are you ready?" Moose asked Dana

She turned and looked at him, "I believe so" she said

Moose looked her straight in the eyes "You look like shit, you know that right?" he said

Dana looked at him "Thanks, just what I needed to hear, Moose" Dana said and nudged Moose playfully.

Before she knew it Heyliger's lips was on hers and he gave her a passionate kiss, at first Dana kissed him back, but then she realized what she was doing and pushed him away.

"Let's just say this never happened" Dana said

Moose looked at her and ran his fingers through his hair, he wanted to do more than kiss the Captain, but he knew she was in love with another man "Yeah let's do that" he agreed.

* * *

Dana walked back to her men, she was very confused, and why had she kissed Moose back? she wasn't interested in Heyliger in any way, she just felt lonely she guessed.

When she walked back in OP3 the men looked at her and immediately noticed Dana was somewhat flustered.

"Ok those of you who are going on the mission tonight, we will meet with the rest of them at CP in half an hour" Dana said and sat down on a wobbly chair, she was staring into space feeling pretty guilty and didn't know if she should spill the beans to Speirs or not.

Talbert came over and sat down next to her "What's up Captain?" Tab said

"Nothing, I am fine Tab" Dana said and smiled at the young sergeant

"I know you, something has happened" Tab said

"Ok do not breathe a word of this to any one, Heyliger kissed me and I kissed him back for a few seconds" Dana said

"And know you feel guilty?" Tab said

"Exactly" Dana said

"If I was you, I would keep this under wraps, you and Heyliger has to live with it, Speirs don't need to get hurt by this" Tab said

"I know" Dana said and settled down to get her gear ready for the operation, she felt guilty as sin, but she knew Tab was right, this was something she had to figure out for herself.

* * *

It had gotten dark out and Emma and Winters was in his office when Moose and Nixon came knocking on the door.

Zeilinsky, Winters orderly was there and Nixon came running up the stairs "Hey Dick you finish your novel yet?" Nixon said referring to Dick report of the incident the attack at the crossroad.

Moose came walking in after him "I thought executive officer was suppose to be a fun job" Moose said.

Nixon turned to Zeilinsky and asked "Who are you?"

"Zeilinsky sir" The orderly answered

"Who is he?" Nixon asked Winters

"Zeilinsky is my orderly," Winters said

Nixon let out a whistle and looked at Emma "Do you have an orderly"

"Well rang does has I privileges" Moose said

Emma smiled "Yes I do, I took Vest with me when I went to third" Emma said

Nixon looked at Zeilinsky "Orderly, I bet you get things like coffee" Nixon said

"Black no sugar and a bacon sandwich" Nixon said

"Leave the poor kid alone" Emma said and sat down on Winters desk, he tried to get her of it, but all he got was a smile and dirty answer.

"Here give this to Colonel Sink with my compliments" Winters said and handed Nixon two pages of paper.

"All that for two pages, guess that's going to take awhile" Nixon said referring to Dick supply list he had to type out.

"Yeah, so matter of fact it will, want a job?" Emma said

"There it is, I think that somebody wish they were back with Easy company, Moose" Nixon said smirking

"Are you two just here to gloat?" Winters said

"No, just to rub it in a little bit, Moose is going to lead his first mission as company commander" Nixon said

"Operation Pegasus is set to go off, I thought I might give you the heads up" Moose said

"Pegasus yeah, great, Everybody know their job" Winters said

"We drilled with the boats all day and Captain Grey and Lieutenant Welsh is coming along and the Canadian engineers, Colonel Dobie knows his stuff" Moose said

"Do you know how many times you have to cross the river?" Emma asked and jumped down from the desk and started to pace.

"If there really is hundred and forty men hiding over there, three trip" Moose said

"Speed is the key, what time is jump of" Emma asked

"We will be at the far side of Rhine at 01.00" Moose said

"Speed is the key, keep moving and lead the way" Winters said

"Ok you two, Easy is in good hands" Nixon said

"Yeah, well hang tough" Winters said

"Well now that we have this whole mission out of the way, I have a confession to make" Moose said and sat down on the chair in front of Winters desk.

"I did a stupid thing, I might have kissed Captain Grey" Moose confessed to three officers in the office

That statement earned him a slap on the back of the head, what the hell was you thinking and you do have death wish don't you.

"I know it was incredible stupid" Moose said

"Just be glad Speirs is in England or he would hunt you down and kill you" Nixon said and slapped Moose on the back

Emma looked at Moose with anger in her eyes, Winters noticed it and looked at Moose "You better get out of here" He said

The young Lieutenant left and Winters looked at Nixon "Are we sure on the intelligence on this?" He said

"I think it's pretty good" Nix said

"Is Easy walking into another company of Germans no one can see?" Emma said

"Why don't we ask Moose when he gets back" Nixon said and started to leave

"Yeah, and if they do run in to any troubles will you let us know?" Winters said

* * *

At 00.30 Dana had assembled her men along with Welsh's men and was ready to cross the Rhine. They got in the boats and crossed, when they got to shore, they jumped out of the boats and secured the line.

Dana hooked up with Welsh and Heyliger and Dobie.

"I got the 30 caliber on the left flank" She said

Moose looked down the Line "Move it down another ten feet" He said and Dana did as ordered.

She came back after moving the .30 Caliber and Moose looked at Dobie "So Colonel where are they" Moose said

Dobie pointed to the hedgerow, and said "Leicester" and in response got the word "Square"

"Come on in" Dobie said and suddenly 140 Brits appeared along the Line

A man came up and greeted Dobie and Moose "I never thought I be so glad to see a bloody yank" he said and then he saw Dana "You even brought girls with you" He said, that earned him a stern look from Dobie "This is Captain Dana Grey, and she is a damn good soldier" the Colonel said.

The man apologized and Dana just nodded.

It took three trips across the Rhine. Winters and Emma kept watching the time and waited for Easy to return, they finally heard them all come back and Gather in an old barn.

* * *

Dana was in the middle of the celebration Moose got up on a chair and started to yell something nobody understood but everybody answered him.

An officer stood up and said "Moose Heyliger and the American 101st has done the Red Devils a great service, making it possible for us to return and fight the enemy on another day, to Easy Company, Victory and Currahee"

CURRAHEE the men shouted, the party got pretty rowdy. Dana wished Charlie was there. Emma wasn't allowed to party with men anymore because of her promotion, and Camilla was so caught up in Lipton it was almost tragic.

She had tried to talk to them, but had given up, she couldn't really blame them, the two of them hardly saw each other, Camilla was always busy at the aid station and Lipton was busy as the company first sergeant.

Colonel Dobie came over to where Dana was sitting nursing her drink, "So how did a pretty girl like you end up in the airborne" He asked her

"I wanted to serve and the airborne seemed like the best" Dana said and tried to shrug Dobie's question of, she wasn't going to tell him she was from the future, he would think she was absolutely mad.

"How long have you been with Easy?" Dobie asked

"Since D-Day, we kind of stumbled upon Easy in Normandy and stuck around" Dana said

"So exactly how many women are there attached to Easy?" Dobie asked

"Well now there is only me, then there is Camilla, she a doctor or almost anyway, she is the one with her hands all over the first sergeant down there. Charlie, who is recovering from a bullet to the lung in England, is Nixon's better half at Battalion S2, as well as in real life. Emma was a platoon leader, she got promoted to XO of third battalion and she is the one sharing a bed with Winters at second Battalion's CP" Dana said

"And you, what's going on between you and Moose?" Dobie asked

"Nothing, absolutely nothing" Dana said

"So you are single?" Dobie said and moved closer to Dana

Dana moved further away from him "Ah no, my boyfriend is a Platoon leader in D. Company" Dana said

"Lucky man, where is he?" Dobie asked and looked out over the crowd

"In a hospital in England" Dana said

"I am sorry" Dobie said

"Don't be, he just took one to the ass" Dana said and smiled

Dana and Dobie talked most of night. Nixon couldn't help but smile, well Speirs had some serious competition in the British Colonel.

* * *

The 506th moved to Driel, Holland

It was an extremely active sector. Winters called Heyliger and suggested the two of make an inspection of the outposts.

Winters then called Welsh and told him they would be en route that night.

They were walking side by side down the narrow path, when suddenly they heard someone yell Halt.

Moose for the life of him couldn't remember the password and without further notice the private, who was at the outpost, fired his M1. Moose was hit in the right shoulder and the left leg; his calf looked like it had just been blown away.

Winters screamed at the private, who had fired the shot, he needed to get Lieutenant Welsh and fast, and to call an ambulance.

Welsh and Winters bandaged Moose up as good as he could and carried him to waiting ambulance, when they got there, Camilla and Doc. Roe was waiting for them

"How much morphine did you give him?" Roe asked

"Two, maybe three syringes, I don't know" Welsh said

"Well I don't see a single syringe on this man jacket" Camilla said

"You lucky he is a big man, he might just make it" Roe said

"We are sorry ok" Winters said

"We didn't know what to do, he was in so much pain" Welsh said

"Well you are officers and grownups, you ought to know" Camilla said and slammed the ambulance door shot.

Camilla rode with Moose to the field hospital, on the way there Moose started to mumble about kissing Dana and all Camilla said to him was not to tell Speirs when he got to England.


	8. Chapter 8

"Have I mentioned lately… I hate foxhole fucking Norman" Dana said, she was sitting on a cot in third platoons barrack at Mourmelon le Grand. Easy had been pulled of the line and was resting up on the French base.

They had arrived the day before and all the men wanted, was to get some sleep, but their pissed of platoon leader was not letting them.

"He calls me miss, can you believe that? I am a captain for Pete's sake, and he calls me miss" Dana kept ranting.

"With all due respect, Captain, get the fuck out of here and let us gets some sleep" Joe Toye said and threw a pillow at Dana.

"I know when I am not welcome" Dana said and walked out of the barrack.

She looked around for someone else to hassle, and the unfortunate victim was Harry Welsh, who was on his way to the officers barrack to sleep after being in a briefing with Winters.

"Harry, hey Harry, wait up" Dana said and ran up a long side the tired lieutenant.

Welsh tried to ignore her, he knew a pissed of Dana when he saw one and he was in no mood to hear her rant about the incompetent company commander.

"No, No, go away, I just want to sleep" Harry said. And tried to ignore Dana

"Come on Harry" Dana said

They had arrived in front of the officers barrack. Harry looked at Dana and walked through the door and slammed it in her face.

Dana huffed and walked towards the barrack she shared with Camilla and Emma.

She sighed and walked into catch some shut eye as well, she tossed and turned she missed Ron, even though she refused to admit it and she was pissed off at Dike.

He had arrived a head of Easy and was waiting for them at the camp. Dana Had walked in with Winter and Welsh, he had ignored her and only talked to the two men. Winters had discretely, tried to get Dike to talk to Dana as well and when he didn't respond to the hints, Winters had looked at him and told him that Dana was a superior officer and she was to be treated as such.

He had the reluctantly saluted her, but when ever Winters wasn't around, he treated her like a secretary; it was only a matter of time before she would explode and tell him where to put his head.

Emma was already in Barrack sleeping, she was exhausted, third battalion had taken a heavy beating on the island and she had a rough time trying to command the battalion, her Company Co's was a good bunch of guys, however like second battalion, they didn't have enough men and they were waiting for the replacements to get in.

Camilla was nowhere to be seen and Dana knew she was working herself into a early grave at the camp hospital. Lipton had already been over there twice to try to get her to sleep, but she refused there was just too much to do. Dana had told him to get some sleep and then go back and drag Camilla away from the hospital.

Dana eventually fell as sleep, she kept dreaming about someone calling her name and she just laughed at him and turned to take the hand of man whose face she couldn't see, she would walk away with the man, and some how it felt wrong, like she should be with the man who was calling her name.

Dana tossed and turned all night, and eventually woke up and felt more drained than when she fell asleep, she had slept for almost twelve hours and Emma was gone. The door to the barrack opened and Lipton walked in carrying a kicking and screaming Camilla over his shoulder, he threw her on his cot and told her to stay he would be right back, as soon as he was out the door, Camilla got up from the cot and was almost out the door before Dana could stop her.

"Lieutenant, get some shut eye, that's an order" Dana said and pointed to the cot.

"Come on Dana, I am needed at the hospital and I can't just stay here and sleep, while those incompetent nurses ruins everything" Camilla said.

"Look sweetie, remember what's coming up" Dana looked at Camilla; Dana could tell Camilla knew what she was talking about.

"Bastogne" Camilla said and fell back wards on her cot and threw her right arm over her eyes.

"Yes and you will need to be rested and on top of things and start hoarding supplies and warm clothes" Dana said

Camilla looked at her and sighed "yeah I guess" She said

"Camilla, I know this suck big time, but think about what it does to C, when he sees you all red eyed and exhausted, he has a job to do as well and he is the one who has to keep the company together while Dike is in command, so get some rest for him, if not for yourself" Dana said.

"Well, he got you now, so I think he has some help now, keeping those boys in line" Camilla said and smiled at Dana

"Please, I am more trouble than I am worth" Dana said and padded Camilla on the leg "You sleep now" She said to Camilla with a stern look in her eyes.

When Dana walked out of the barrack Lipton walked in, he saw Camilla was almost half a sleep with all her gear on, he smiled, he loved that crazy Doc, she was the most caring, selfless woman he had ever met, and she would work herself to the bone to keep everyman in the Army a live if she had to.

Lipton sat down besides her and pulled her feet up in his lap. He slowly untied her boots and pulled them of her, then he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up and took of her jacket. Camilla smiled, Lipton sat and looked at her, and he tugged a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her head.

Convinced she was a sleep, he whispered "Where did you come from? and why didn't I meet you sooner?"

Camilla opened her eyes, she smiled and took his hand "I came from far away and we weren't meant to meet sooner, because then we wouldn't be the people we are today" she said.

Lipton looked at Camilla "Please tell me something about your past" He said, they never really talked about the past, they had been too busy living in the present.

Camilla sighed " I grew up in a small town and my family lived in a house by the rail road tracks, we didn't have a lot of money and I joined the army to get away from the small town, getting into west point was just luck, I guess" Camilla said

"I was a mechanic, before I joined up and now a doc, so I guess I like to fix things" Camilla said

"What about your family?" Lipton asked her

Camilla didn't like to talk about her family, talk about being fucked up. Camilla had an older sister, who was born when their mom was only seventeen, her older sister had been told she was unplanned and basically unwanted, she was five years older than Camilla and because of her parents telling her she was unwanted, she thought she had to be the best at everything she did, which had caused her to have two major breakdowns.

Camilla's sister had a degree in engineering, she had worked with the army in Iraq when she suddenly disappeared, she had been MIA since then.

"It's complicated" Camilla said and continued to tell Lipton about her screwed up family.

Lipton started to tell her about him and his family, but his soft voice put her to sleep, he smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the head before he walked out of the door.

He looked around the camp and saw Easy company gather around to do some close order drills, he sighed, the men were combat veterans and they didn't need to do drills, they needed to blow of some steam, they had their sleep last night and now they were looking for trouble.

They had all been issued a pass to Reims and with the 82nd in camp, there was bound to be troubles.

Lipton joined the company in time to see Dana roll her eyes and give Dike the one finger salute behind his back. Lipton knew the pretty captain was trouble and the guys would protect her with all they had, she was the one who kept up the morale in Holland and had them all dancing rain dance in the cold rainy weather and the one ready to smile, even though the love of her life was wounded and in the hospital.

Lipton had even noticed how close Dana and Dobie had become after the rescued the Brits.

While Dana was drilling and Camilla was sleeping. Emma had snuck away from third battalions HQ, she was sitting on a couch in Winters office with her feet in his lap and a bunch of papers in her lap.

They were both going through a bunch of paper work and ordering supplies for the men, it was getting colder and the men would need winter clothes soon. Emma was just getting a little edgy, she knew it wouldn't reach them in time and she was starting to hoard everything, just like the rest of the girls, blankets, socks, rations whatever they would need under the siege at Bastogne.

Winter looked up at Emma; she looked tired, but also very content, he wished the peace he felt right now would last forever, he had been thinking about asking her to marry him and he had even found a ring he had been carrying around since Aldbourne.

He looked at her and she looked up at him at that exact moment, she smiled her big bright smile and Dick could feel his heart stop.

He was going to do it, he was going to ask her to marry him, right here, right now.

Winters pushed Emma's feet of his lap; he walked over to his jacket and pulled out the ring from his pocket. He turned around and saw Emma was looking at a bunch of order forms; she was biting her right part of her lower lip and twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

He smiled and walked over to the couch and got down on one knee. Emma looked up and smiled, she sat up straight and looked at Dick with stars in her eyes.

"Emma, you are the best thing to ever come into my life, you are the light, my beacon through this time we are living in, I love you with all I have. Will you please, please marry me?" Dick said

Emma smiled and she was about to burst into tears, all she could do was nod, "Yes, yes, god yes" she said and Winters very gently put the ring on her finger and kissed her.

They got up and kissed and hugged each other. Emma looked at Winters "Can I go tell Dana now" she asked him. Dick just laughed, he knew this is what would happen, he would propose Emma would get all teary eyed and the next minute ready to tell the whole world and he wouldn't want it any other way, he couldn't wait to marry her. This was one time, where he had no problem with the whole world to knowing his business.

Emma came running out of the HQ and ran right into Dana and pulled her away from Dike and his closed order drills.

"What is going on?" Dike yelled after Emma

Emma turned around and looked at Dike "Stand before me at attention" Emma said

Dike jumped into attention, when he saw it was the battalion commander, who had dragged one of his Platoon leaders away.

"I know you have no idea how to run your company and in my opinion you lucked out, if I was up at regiment you would be scrambling eggs right now and Captain Grey would be running this company, so what did you want Lieutenant" Emma spat out at the flustered lieutenant.

Dike just opened and closed his mouth and Emma looked up and down him "Dismissed lieutenant" Emma said making it very clear to Dike his presence was no longer needed or wanted

Emma dragged Dana towards the HQ, she was giggling and when they got in door, she showed Dana her ring.

Dana jumped up and down "I can't believe it, he proposed to you, you are lucky, you know that" Dana said and got all misty eyed "So when is the big day" She asked Emma

"I don't know, he proposed and I ran out the door after saying yes" Emma said.

That night the girls had a little celebration at their barrack. They had found some bottles of fine French red wine and were somewhat tipsy, when third platoon showed up with Liebgott, Toye, Talbert and Luz in tow.

"So captain Hunter, congrats, do we get to be the bridesmaids" Luz asked Emma

"No you Luz get to be my flower girl" Emma retorted and laughed.

The boys had brought some bottles of questionable origin with them and soon nobody was sober anymore. Camilla was glad Lipton had guard duty, otherwise she would be in heaps of trouble after her drunken display when they had saved the Brits, he had told her to stay somewhat sober, because she got a little to hands' when drunk.

Dana was talking to Talbert; the two of them had become close friends and had a lot in common.

Tab looked at Dana "So when are you and Sparky getting hitch?" he asked her

"We are not" Dana said

"Why? Would you rather be with the mad colonel?" Tab asked Dana. Dobie had been nicknamed the mad colonel after having escaped from the Germans.

Dana blushed, she couldn't deny she felt attracted to Dobie, but she was sure she was meant to be with Ron.

"You do like the colonel" Tab said when he noticed her blush, "You are in trouble" Tab said in a sing song voice

"Don't Tab, don't go there" Dana said and nudged Tab.

"I won't pester you, just warn me when you tell Sparky, so I can flee to Paris or something" Talbert said.

While Dana was having her conversation with Talbert, Camilla and Emma was making drunken plans for the wedding. Camilla said they should have right here at the camp and let the battalion chaplain wed them, and Emma had a very strong opinion of them having it in the church in town.

Eventually everybody had said congrats to Emma and they got kicked out of the barrack. Liebgott lingered for a while and so did Toye, they had both been in Emma's platoon and they had both been sorry to see her go.

Liebgott and Toye had their arms slung around Emma's shoulders and they looked at her "We want to be in the wedding and not as bridesmaids" Liebgott said.

Toye looked at Emma "If he gives you any trouble let us know" Toye said referring to Winters.

"Oh I will Joseph, don't you worry" Emma said

Dana and Emma went to bed; Emma was staring up at the ceiling, "Am I doing the right thing, I mean what if we have to go back, you know to our own time?" She asked Dana

"Well, I don't know, we really haven't talked about going back you know, we have all been to wrapped up in this whole war and experiencing the things we all have been talking about most of our life's you know, I mean if we get the chance to go home would you? can you look me in the eyes and tell me you can live without Dick?" Dana asked Emma

"Well, I guess I don't have a whole lot to miss, or anyone missing me really" Emma said

"I guess none of really do, I mean I have my pops but that's really it" Dana said

The reason the four girls had become such good friends was their lack of family, they had slowly become each other's family during basic training, so now they were like sisters to each other.

The only one with an actual family was Camilla, and that family was so screwed and especially after her sisters disappearance five years ago.

"Would you marry Ron if he asked you" Emma asked Dana

"You know what, I don't know, I just don't know, I mean if we do get the chance to go back, I will do whatever you guys do, I can't imagine going back without you guys." Dana said

"I know me neither" Emma said

Camilla was sleeping through this whole conversation and missed out on voicing her opinion.

Two days later Camilla, Emma and Dana was on their way to Reims for Emma's bachelorette party. The men all had passes as well and they couldn't wait to celebrate Emma and try and talk her out of marrying Winters and talk her into marry them instead.

Emma's CO had been reluctant to let her go, but after Dana personally showed up and sweet talked him into letting him go.

Nixon had tried to talk Winters into going to Reims as well, but he had refused. He was a officer in the Army and darn proud of it and he had no need to watch Emma and the girls celebrate Emma's last day in freedom.

So Welsh, Nixon and Lipton stayed in Camp and had a quiet guy's night in.

In Reims the girls was having fun at one of the local bars, Dana was stupid drunk and so was Camilla, they were playing some drinking game with some of the boys from Dana's third platoon.

Emma was trying to stay somewhat sober, it was more fun to watch the two others get drunk and the 82nd was in Reims as well and that meant trouble.

Suddenly some of the Red Devils showed up and Dana peaked up she ran across the room and drunkenly threw herself into the arms of Colonel Dobie.

"David, what are you doing here?" She said after hugging the living daylight out of him.

"Well, we are on our merry way back to England for a month worth of furlough, but we did hear that Easy company was in town and we just had to stop by and see our favorite yanks" Dobie said.

Dana gave him a big smile, David looked around "Where is the other officers?" he asked

"Well this is Emma's bachelorette party and the boys opted to stay in Camp. Moose got shot in Holland and is in a hospital in England, but last thing we heard he will be alright" Dana said

"Emma is getting married? To Dick I hope" David said.

"Yes and that's why your truly is somewhat less than sober" Dana said and grabbed on to Dobie's collar so she wouldn't fall

"Whoops" She said

"Oh I think you are more than pissed" Dobie said

"How about some coffee" He suggested

"No, No I don't want to be sober, because then I start to think about all the crazy things there is happening right now and I want to be happy and drunk and eventually pass out" Dana said and turned around and walked away, staggering over to the bar where third platoon was waiting for her.

Dobie decided to keep an eye on the rowdy Captain for the rest of the night and if he had to he would carry her back to camp himself.

Soon Camilla and Emma joined Dana at the bar; the girls were laughing and having fun, when a bunch of 82nd boys walked in.

At first there were just some staring and angry glances between the 82nd boys and the 101st. Then the boys from the 82nd started to yell, "What does the Eagle scream? Help, Help" and laughed that set of the 101st and soon the bar was in an uproar.

Dana dove in, Emma and Camilla headed for the door as officers they couldn't afford to get busted by the MPs.

Dana felt herself get lifted off the ground and slung over somebody shoulder, "Why do guys keep doing this to me?" She asked the person

Dobie laughed "Because you are more trouble than you are worth" he said and carried her out of the bar.

Camilla and Emma had already left, so Dobie had to take Dana back to the base.

When Dana woke up the next morning she looked around the room, she realized she wasn't in her own room and the man sleeping next to her sure as wasn't Ron, what she had done and with whom?


	9. Chapter 9

"Oh no, no, David what the hell?" Dana said and kicked Colonel Dobie, while she tried to cover herself with the sheet, from the colonel's bed.

Dobie turned over still half asleep "Good morning to you too sunshine" he said and got out of the bed.

Dana stood there and looked at him, what the hell she had done? why would she do something so stupid? and she hadn't thought David would take advantaged of her.

"Did we... I mean did we... when we came back here last night" Dana asked Dobie

"Oh yeah it was amazing, you absolutely blew my mind" Dobie said. Actually nothing had happened, Dana had been almost unconscious when they got back to the officers quarters and David thought it would be best if she had some supervision in case she got sick.

Dana sat back down on the bed and started to rock back and forth, "Oh god, oh god, oh god, how the hell do I explain this to Ron?" She said.

David sat down in front of her, "Well, here is how I see it, we absolutely have to get married, since we you know" he said and laughed.

Dana looked at him with disbelief in her eyes "How can you say that?" she said.

Dobie stood up and put his shirt on, he was absolutely blown away by Dana, but he knew she was crazy about this Ron character.

"don't worry love, nothing happened, you were just really pissed last night and I thought it would be best to keep an eye on you. Now get ready, we have a wedding to attend in three hours." Dobie said.

Dana stood up and punched Dobie in arm and grabbed her jacket and slammed the door after her.

She walked back to the room she shared with Camilla; she took a deep breath and opened the door. The two girls in the room and looked at Dana when she walked in.

Emma raised her eyebrow "Where the hell were you last night?" she asked the tardy Captain.

Camilla and Emma was in their class A uniform, it was the nicest clothes they had out here.

"With David" Dana said

"Why?" Camilla said.

"Well after dragging me away from the fight, I passed out and he decided to keep an eye on me" Dana said and shrugged

Emma and Camilla looked at each other "Oh Ron got some competition" Camilla said and smiled at Dana.

"what no, besides me and David are just friends" Dana said.

"Come on he is absolutely bunkers about you" Camilla said and Emma nodded in agreement.

"Let's get ready for the wedding and start worrying about Emma's love life instead" Dana said.

The girls got ready and put on whatever make up they had been able to loot.

There was a knock on the door and Nixon stepped in, he looked hung-over and when Camilla looked at him he just nodded and she knew he missed Charlie and wished she was there. Camilla gave him a little smile. Emma was sad that Charlie wasn't there, but it would be too late for Emma and Winters to get married when she got back from the hospital. There was no telling when they would be moving out, it could be tomorrow or in the spring no one knew.

Nixon had bouquet with him.

"Are you about ready?" He asked the girls; Emma walked over and hugged him.

"Yes, thank you for doing this" Emma said

"My pleasure" Nix said

Nix had volunteered to get the girls to the church and he was Winters best man. Nixon had borrowed a jeep and had some of Easy replacement shine it up.

They all got in the jeep and drove to the church in town. Winters had insisted on being married in a church by a Priest even if was a catholic church and priest.

It was a silent ride, they were all thinking about the people who weren't there.

When they got to the church Emma stopped for a minute, there were more people there than she thought possible, Emma and the two other girls walked into a side room to get ready.

There was a knock on the door and Sink walked in "Are you gals bout ready" Sink said

He was walking Emma down the aisle, Emma nodded and walked over and took the arm Sink offered her.

They walked out with Dana and Camilla ahead of them. Nixon was at the altar with Winters and Welsh and Lipton was walking Dana and Camilla up to the alter before they went over and stood by Winters.

Winter watched as Sink walked his bride down the aisle. Winters couldn't believe he was about to marry the woman of his dream, the one he believed god made for him, she was not only incredible beautiful, but smart, kind and thoughtful and she had same philosophy as him, to lead from the front and to hang tough.

Emma looked at her groom, he was made for her, she was sure of it. Emma now knew why god had sent them back in time, it was so they could love and be loved, a love that defied all time and space.

Dick was the half of her whole and she would never be able to find a man like him ever again.

She could feel tears well up in her eyes; she blinked several times and smiled. Dick gave her a small smile, Emma could tell he was nervous, she didn't know why; it was not like she was going to say no to him. Emma looked around her, the entire and second and third battalion was in the church, it was jammed packed. Emma looked up at Sink, he gave her arm a squeeze, when they got to the he shook hand s with Winters and handed over Emma to her future husband.

The priest stated the ceremony and Dana zoned out, she looked around the church when her eyes met Dobie's he smiled at her and motioned for her to get her head back in the game.

Winters and Emma kissed, and Camilla looked at Lipton he kept a straight face, when it was their turn to walk down the aisle he leaned over and whispered in Camilla's ear, "that will be us when this war is over" Camilla smiled and than just looked straight ahead, she wasn't ready to get married and the talk of marriage just reminded her of what was in the future, would they all make it through Bastogne.

* * *

"Now we have two Captain Winters, watch out here we come, to the Captain's" Dana ended her maid of honor speech.

There was a small celebration set up in the mess, only the officers and Easy company had been invited, Sink was sitting besides Emma shinning like a proud father.

Sink stood up and demanded the attention of all the soldiers in room by saying ten-hut.

They all got up and stood at attention.

"At Ease men and women" Sink said

Everybody sat down and looked at the regiment commander.

"Captain's, this is a very special day for all of us, to get a chance to celebrate something as special and wonderful as a wedding in the middle of a war zone. I think it might be a first and one for the books. To find love in a place with so much pain and hurt seems to be a Easy company tradition, yall been very blessed, to have such fine women in your midst. It was a shock to say the least when you showed up at Normandy, but it turned out to be a damn good thing you did, the regiment got a fine bunch of officers and a hell of a doc. You girls have become like my daughters and I like the men here will do anything to protect you, you have a new bunch of brothers here and the men who choose to marry you at one point, will have to thru a lot of grieve before they get the ok from this rowdy bunch. Now for the more serious part, a marriage isn't something to enter into lightly, it takes work and determination to make it work, but if you can make through this war I think you will be able to make it through anything. Winters, when you marry a woman like Emma here you know there will be times where you won't get your way and cherish those times, the times where you fight and make up and knowing my battalion xo you will pay for your mistakes, but she will always love and forgive you, she will make sure you are taken care of and happy. She will support you in your choices even if she disagree and I am together you will be happy you snatched her up before any of these other fine men here. Emma I remember the first time I saw you at Normandy, I think I dismissed you fairly quickly, and three hours later you had proved why I should trust you and your girls, the attack on the guns was something else, and that will go down in history as well. You chose Dick and as your substitute father I couldn't be more proud of that choice. However the choice you made comes with commitments, Winters is a damn fine man and he will expect you to live up to the standards he sets for himself, but I know that the standard you set for your self is pretty high to so it will be fun to watch. Like I said before I think your life will never be boring, but I do expect you to find peace and tranquility once the war is over. You are my finest battalion commanders and I expect great thing from you and remember you can't push a rope- you have to pull it. To Dick and Emma, may the life together be long and happy." Sink said and kissed Emma on the cheek.

* * *

The celebration went on well into the night; a lot of the men had picked up where they left off last night when the MP's broke up the party.

Toye, Luz, Perconte, Muck, Penkala, Talbert and Shifty were in a great mood and they were dancing around with Dana and Camilla.

Dana finally had enough and sat down by a table where Dobie and his men was sitting chatting about what they would be doing, while on leave in England...

Dana sat down on chair, she thought was there, but instead she ended up in Dobie's lap.

He held on to her "Now easy there love, don't fall on the floor and ruin those A class of yours" He said.

The Colonel was pissed and in a great mood. Dana gave him a big flirty smile; she was despite her fall sober, just to avoid any foul up at her friend's wedding.

"Oh don't worry I won't, besides I know you would catch me if I fell" Dana said

"Anytime, love" Dobie said.

Dana stayed and talked to the Brits and once the music got started she danced most of the night with Dobie.

Sometime later Toye and Luz decided it was their turn to give a speech, they were both in the fence drunk, they got the music quieted down; they were holding each other up.

"Captain and Captain, that sounds weird, may you have a long and happy life and remember this SNAFU, to our favorite Captains, Cheers" Luz and Toye said.

Emma and Dick danced and were so caught up in each other; Sink had to ask for a dance five times before they heard him.

Camilla sat and looked at the people on the dance floor and Emma and Dick in particular, she still thought about what Lip had said to her when they walked down the aisle, she wasn't ready to get married and settle down, she still had so much she wanted to do, before she tied the knot.

Talbert came over and sat down and looked at Camilla

"What's up Lt.? why the long face?" Talbert asked Camilla

"Nothing Tab, how about you?" Camilla said

"Well all the pretty girls are taken and I am in the middle of a war, but other than that" Talbert said.

Camilla looked at him and smiled, he was a cutie that Talbert.

"So do you want to tell me why you look so down?" Talbert asked

"I was just thinking, Lipton sort of asked me to marry him once this thing is over" Camilla said referring to the conversation in the church and the war

"Yeah, what's so bad about that?" Talbert asked

"I am not sure I want to get married" Camilla said

"To the sergeant, ever? or what?" Talbert asked her

"Well, I guess sometime in the future, but not now" Camilla said

"You need to tell him, because, I may not know a lot, but I know that man is crazy about you, and you need to make sure you are on the same page" Talbert said and patted Camilla's knee and left her to her own thoughts.

Camilla looked at Lipton, she liked him a lot, and hell she even loved him, more than she had loved any one before.

She was blessed to have him in her life, and he was her rock, but marriage? didn't that mean kids and a station wagon?

Camilla studied the man she loved for a moment, he was a handsome man and he was kind, funny and caring and he always made sure she was ok. He was the glue that held the company together and the men looked up to him, he was all in all amazing and the scar he got in Carentan gave him a kind of rugged look.

But marriage...?

Emma and Dick was on the dance floor swaying to a slow song, they whispered quiet, kind words to each other. Emma looked around at the people gathered. Everybody she loved was there well except Charlie and she would have liked to have Speirs there, just so Dana would be completely happy, but it looked like she managed with Dobie. Emma wondered if Dana was starting to fall for the British Colonel, well absence was supposed to make the heart grow fonder, but in this case it was out of eye out of mind.

Emma refused to believe Dana would cheat on Ron. Dana had been talking about Speirs for years and how he was a man, and how they didn't made them like that anymore and if she had been born earlier she would marry him, they were both career soldiers. Dick and herself wasn't, they would both leave the army and evidently she would settle in Nixon, New Jersey, maybe she would go back to school once they got home, it was so strange to think that her home was now, where ever Dick settled.

The party carried on until the early hours in the morning and went on, long after the couple disappeared.

* * *

A couple of days later, Dana, Nixon, Welsh, Winters and Emma was gathered in Winters office, when Zielinski knocked on the door and announced a sergeant Guarnere was there to see the Captain.

Guarnere stepped in the office and saluted the officers; he looked around and noticed how tired they all looked.

"So I guess congratulations are in order, I never thought I see the two of you parked behind a desk" Guarnere said and looked at Emma and Winters.

"Well one these days, they are going to sit behind it" Nixon smarted of.

"I just went AWOL from the hospital to get here, I hope it's not going to cause you any problems" Guarnere said

"Would you care if it did?" Emma asked

"Not a bit" Guarnere said and hugged Emma

Guarnere pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket "I got a letter here to from Moose, Lieutenant Heyliger, sir he is recovering but it's going to be a long haul" Guarnere said and handed Winters the letter.

Dick looked over at Harry and Harry bit his lower lip, looking a bit ashamed.

Bill turned and looked at Dana "And he told me to give you this" Bill said and went over and hugged Dana and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Dana hugged Bill Back.

"Did you see Ron?" She asked

"Yeah and he said he would be back here son and for you to behave" Bill said.

Guarnere asked about the Christmas day football game and made a crack about sky trained boys and looked at the officers, they all looked busy, tired and somehow preoccupied.

"Great… well I just go find some trouble" Bill said

"You do that" Nixon said.

"And Bill, no more joy riding" Emma said

"Right, ahh Anybody ever heard of a little joint called Lulu's" Bill asked

"Got me" Welsh said and Dana just lifted her eyebrows at Welsh, she knew he was lying.

"I'll just ask around" Bill said

Bill walked out and Zielinski closed the door, "Well I guess know is as good as time as any" Nixon said and pulled out a piece of paper form one of his pockets.

"What is that? another piece of paper? I don't want to see another piece of paper" Winters said.

"General Taylor has flown back to Washington, he has left McAuliffe in charge of the division, and Colonel Sink is in Reims to see Dietrich" Nixon said

"Marlene is in Reims? I am out of here, I am going to Reims" Welsh said

"Strayer is in London to Visit Dobie, and I am personally going to Aldbourne to look up a sudden young lady," Nixon said

Winters looked at Nixon, "What are you telling me?" He asked

"You two are heading to Paris, that's a forty eight hour pass, it's been decided that the two of you deserve a honey moon" Nixon said

Emma looked at Dana, she smiled and hugged Dick "I can't believe it Paris" she said

Dana was kind of bummed, she would be staying alone, Nixon turned and handed her a pass to Aldbourne "You are coming with me" He said, Dana smiled and accepted


	10. Chapter 10

Dana's butt was sore, the jeeps wasn't as comfortable as they looked.

Nixon and Dana was on a LST on their way to England and Aldbourne. Dana got more and more quiet.

"Nervous about seeing Speirs again?" Nixon asked her

"Yeah well, I got a lot to tell him" Dana said and looked out at the water.

"Guess It's been a eventful couple of months" Nixon said

"You can say that again" Dana said and leaned against the railing, she lit a smoke and blew out the smoke.

"How the do I explain, Dobie and Moose to him? and what if he already know?" Dana said and looked at Nixon.

He studied her a minute, he wasn't exactly the one to ask for advice when it came to relationships.

"Hell if I know, the only woman I been faithful to is Charlie, because I know she would beat my ass and I love her more than anything" Nixon said.

"I know, but you might want to lie of the booze around her" Dana said and winked at Nixon.

"Will do, will do" Nixon said.

"Just tell him you missed him and you can't wait for him to get back to the battalion" Nixon said

"Guess so" Dana said.

When the LST landed on English soil, Dana practically ran of it and onto the waiting jeep, Nixon followed smiling.

"Guess someone has found her excitement" Nixon said

"Just let's go" Dana said.

* * *

Dana bounced around in the back of the jeep, when it stopped outside of the hospital, she jumped off and grabbed her bag and waited for Nixon to get his gear together. They walked into the hospital together and asked for Charlie and Speirs, they were in different rooms on the same floor.

They climbed the stairs together. Nixon looked at Dana and said" Good luck" and opened the door to Charlie's room, he saw her in bed, looking a lot better than the last time he saw her.

Charlie turned her head when the door opened and when she saw who it was her whole face lit up and she cried out "Lew, oh god you are here, I missed you so much"

Nixon sat down on the bedside "I missed you to Honey" He said and kissed Charlie with all his penned up passion and despair.

They pulled apart and Nixon tucked a strand of hair behind Charlie's ear, she looked at him "So tell me, what have I missed?" She said

"Well, we rescued a bunch of Brits, and their commander fell in love with Dana and have a tendency to show up in most unusual places." Nixon said and kissed Charlie again.

"we had a wedding a few days ago" Nixon said and played with the sheet on Charlie's bed, he was hesitant to tell her about the wedding, he knew she would be upset she wasn't there.

"Who got married? Luz finally got that nurse to marry him" Charlie said.

Nixon drew in a big breath "No, not Luz. Winters and Emma got married in a small church in France and right now they are on their honey moon in Paris" Nixon said and studied Charlie's face for some sort of reaction.

Charlie looked hurt for a brief second and then she just shook it up, she was upset they hadn't waited for her to get back, but on the other hand they were heading to hell on earth, so she guessed she couldn't really blame them, "Wow, that's, that's great, I am glad for them" Charlie said.

"Guess" Nixon said and hugged Charlie.

"So what else, Moose mumbled something about a kiss and a slap on the head" Charlie said

"Oh yeah, he kissed Dana and got a slap on the back of the head from Emma" Nixon said.

"Well, ought to teach him" Charlie said, she pulled Nixon to her. She pulled back and patted her bed, motioning for him to join her "I am so glad you are here, now I won't have to scramble thru Europe to catch up with Easy, when they let me out tomorrow" Charlie said

"They are letting you leave?" Nixon said, he was excited, but also scared, what if something happened to her again.

"Don't worry babe, I will be ok" Charlie said and put her hand on Nixon cheek.

"So what about you? what's going on with you?" She asked and looked Nixon in the eyes.

Lew quickly looked away; he was kind of ashamed of the fact that he had to tell Charlie he was drinking again.

"Lew, what? what aren't you telling me?" Charlie asked

She studied him for a moment, he looked puffy and he had the tell, tale sign of a man who drank too much.

"Lew have you been drinking again?" Charlie asked

Lew was embarrassed "Charlie I am sorry, it's just with what happened to you and the worry I slipped, I am sorry" Nixon said

Charlie could tell he was sorry, but she heard the song before from her mother.

Charlie grabbed a hold of Nixon "Lew look, my mom was a drunk and she left me, I won't marry one, so you have to promise me it stops right here" Charlie said and looked at Nixon with tears in her eyes.

Nixon's heart broke, he would stop drinking right then and there, just to keep Charlie from having to go thru more hurt, he nodded "Yes, yes I promise" he said

Charlie smiled thru her tears and they kissed again.

They just lay there holding each other and enjoying being together, they were happy, they would be together again soon.

Charlie knew it would be a tough time and she had started to hoard warm clothing and socks.

"Nix, what do you think we will do when the war is over?" Charlie asked Nix

"I think, we will go home to New Jersey and get married and spend our time traveling" Nixon said and kissed Charlie on the nose.

Charlie smiled "Are you sure you want to marry a broken ex army Captain?" Charlie asked

"I don't want anyone else, you are who I was made for" Nixon said meaning every word.

"I know, it's just sometimes I wonder if this war have changed me, us, all of the men, you know" Charlie said

"I don't think any one goes thru a war without getting hurt emotionally or physically" Nixon said

"I guess you are right" Charlie said and snuggled up to Nixon

There was complete silence until they heard someone yelling "HE DID WHAT"

"Guess Dana told Speirs about Moose" Nixon said

* * *

"Please come down, nothing else happened and it's not like I enjoyed it" Dana said and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Dana he kissed you, he shouldn't do that, not when he knows you are with another man" Speirs was pissed off and he wasn't going to let himself get talked down. He didn't care if was nothing, it just made it worse that Moose hadn't asked for Dana's consent and the fact a fellow officer would move in on his girl and a fellow officer. Speirs was pissed beyond believe, he just wanted to get up and beat the shit out of Moose.

Dana could tell Ron was pissed off, like nothing she had seen before, not even after he shot that sergeant back in Normandy, had she seen him that pissed off.

"Ron please let it go, Moose has suffered enough, he doesn't need any more grieve" Dana said trying to come down Ron.

Ron was about to respond when the door flew open and Colonel Dobie stepped in the room, he thought it was the room of one of his lieutenants.

"David what are you doing?" Dana asked

Dobie stopped for a second of all of the places he had thought he would see Dana again; it hadn't been at the hospital.

"Dana what are you…" he started and then it dawned on him "You must be Ron" he said and stuck his hand out to Speirs.

Speirs took out of the respect for the rank "Sir" he said and looked between Dana and Dobie, "How do you know each other" he said

Dana was totally stunned "We…" she started

"Easy company saved our butts in Holland" Dobie said

Dana still just stared at Dobie, she blushed which didn't escape Ron's attention.

"Well I best be going then, nice to meet you lieutenant, Dana" Dobie said and walked out.

The room went silent "So, how are you?" Dana asked

"I am fine, I am getting out of here tomorrow, but there is something you are not telling me" Ron said

"David and I we got close in Holland, and he saved my ass at Emma's bachelorette party" Dana said

"Why did he have to rescue you?" Ron asked

Dana told Ron what have happened since he had left her in Holland, Speirs got somewhat upset, he was downright angry by the time she finished her story.

"Ron say something please" Dana said.

He looked at her "I don't know what to say; I guess I can't blame you, can I? it's not like you led them on or came on to them, did you?" Ron said.

Dana took a moment had she led Moose and David on? she hoped not, she hadn't done it intentionally, she was being her friendly self, had she send some signals that could have been miss interpreted.

"I haven't done anything intentionally, I do care a lot about you, and Ron I love you" Dana finally admitted to herself and Ron.

Speirs pulled her into his bed, "I know, babe and I love you too, it's just a lot to take in and if you don't mind, please get out of here and go see Charlie, I want to catch whatever sleep I can, before heading back out on the line" He said and slapped Dana on the butt.

What Ron really needed was time to come down and think about all he had been told.

"Oh and Winters and Emma got married" Dana said before she closed the door.

* * *

Dana walked into Charlie's room Nixon was sleeping and Charlie was studying him like he was a precious piece of art.

"You know it's just an army captain, not Michelangelo's David" Dana said and pushed of the doorframe.

"Oh no, I will leave the David's to you" Charlie said with a smirk

"So he told you, did he?" Dana said and hugged Charlie, trying not wake Nixon.

"How are you?" Dana asked Charlie

"I am good, I am getting out of here" Charlie said.

"Awesome" Dana said

"I am heading out see you tomorrow" Dana said and kissed Charlie on the cheek.

Dana stepped out of the hospital, she was summoned to the HQ, and she knew Strayer was in Aldbourne wonder if he was the one who needed her.

She stepped into the HQ and walked straight to the commander's office, the door was closed so she waited outside.

She looked at the clerk who was typing away and she starred at him, he looked familiar, she saw his last name was Kahne, Dana was sudden he must be related to Charlie somehow, maybe a distant relative Dana thought.

The door opened and Strayer called her in, Dana walked in and stood at attention, "At ease captain" Strayer said

Dana looked at Strayer, expecting him to say something first "How are the lieutenants" Strayer asked Dana

"Good, just Fine, they are being released tomorrow" Dana said

"Great, you and Nixon can escort them back to France then" Strayer said.

"How are you and the girls holding up?" Strayer said

"Good, fine" Dana said

"Good, I…" Strayer said, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door "Bob are you about done" a female voice said, a woman who looked to be about thirty years old pocked her head in, Dana sucked in a breath, the woman looked exactly Camilla only older.

She looked at Dana when she heard her suck in her breath, she then looked at Strayer

"We are done Captain" Strayer said and dismissed Dana.

Dana walked out of the building and headed straight for her old billet, she found a vacant room, and she fell on the bed and slept in her jumpsuit.

* * *

Speirs was unable to sleep; he was still upset about what had happened in his absence. He believed Dana hadn't started anything intentionally, but she wasn't completely innocent he knew that, he had to decide if he could let it go, or if he should hang on to the disappointment and anger.

He would have a little talk with both of the men ,that's for sure and then he would decide.

Speirs fell asleep thinking about Dana and what his life would be without Dana in it. It was hard for him to imagine after spending so much time thinking about her while he had been in the hospital, she had been one of factors keeping his spirit up and wanting to return so bad, she was a big part of that and then his men, who he knew needed him.

In time Speirs would figure shit out and get his ducks in a row again.

The nurse on call looked in on Speirs, the lieutenant slept like a baby for the first time in a long while, must have something to do with the pretty lieutenant who visited him earlier.

* * *

The next day Dana was lingering around the officer's billet, she wanted to talk to the woman from Strayer's office, she knew she had to find out the connection between Camilla and the woman.

Finally she heard the woman's voice "Fine, make sure we have the supplies by the time we get back to France" The woman said to someone outside the billet.

Dana smiled at the woman and saluted her when she noticed the Major insignias on her collar.

The woman saluted her back "What can I do for you Captain?" The major said.

"I was wondering what your last name is?" Dana said

"Why do you want to know that?" The major said

"Well it's a long story, but you look a lot like our Doc" Dana said

The major looked at Dana "Well that must be a co incidence, I have no family" The Major said and started to walk away.

Dana looked at the Major's back "Does the name Camilla mean anything to you?" She asked the major.

The Major walked back to Dana "who are you? and how do you know about Camilla?"

"I am captain Dana Grey, west point class of 2011 and apparently time traveler extraordinaire" Dana said

"Is… is she here as well?" the Major asked Dana

"Yes, she is in France with her company" Dana said

"Don't tell me you girls hooked up with Easy" the Major said

"Yeah, how you know that?" Dana said

"Please, Camilla have been studying anything Easy for years" the major said

"Just like the rest of us" Dana said

The Major went quiet for a second, she had to let it sink in her baby sister was here in this damn war.

"Well I am Ella-Marie Hamlin, or major Hamlin or to my friends El" Ella said

"So how did you end up here?" El asked Dana

"We were at Danish base in Afghanistan and there were an explosion and we ended up in Normandy on D-day" Dana said.

"Sounds kind of like it happened to me, except the fact I ended up in 1939 and had to explain how a woman ended up in the army in 1939, oh and I had the pleasure of participating in formation of the airborne, which wasn't easy by the way, fun fact I got to train Sobel and I gave him all kind of hell" El said.

Dana looked at El "So you and Strayer?"

"Yeah I don't know, we have just went out a couple of times, he is sweet" El said.

"Strayer is a fair commander" Dana said

The two girls have started to walk and had ended up in the mess with a cup a coffee, they sat together and gossiped

"So how about you girls you said there was more of you" El said

"Well there is four of us, Captain Hunter, Captain Kahne, who is in the hospital after getting shot after Market-Garden, Camilla who is still a lieutenant, she denied her promotion" Dana said

"And which men have you twisted around your fingers" El asked

"Well Hunter is now Captain Winters actually, Camilla have Lipton wrapped around her pinky, Kahne is with Nixon and me well its complicated, I am in love with Speirs, I think, however Heyliger kissed me and then there is Dobie who keeps proposing to me" Dana said

El let out a laugh "Well you are trouble; I knew when I saw you in Bob's office"

* * *

Nix was at the hospital getting ready to take Charlie home with him, they would have to leave for France later that evening.

He was helping her out of the bed, when he heard the door to the room next to Charlie's slam shut; it was the room Speirs had been in. Nix knew Speirs was back in excellent shape and he guessed he was on his way to have a word with Heyliger.

They had packed all Charlie's stuff and were planning on getting her refitted with some winter clothes, when Dana pocked her head in the door to Charlie's room.

"You guys know where Ron is" she asked

"I don't know for sure, but I think he is with Heyliger" Nixon said

Dana just made a face and nodded, "guess I better head down stairs then" She said and turned around.

Nixon looked at Charlie, "now this is going to be interesting" Charlie looked at Nix "with Dana it always is, she attracts men and trouble"

"How are you doing?" Nixon looked at Charlie

"I am good, I can't wait to get back to the men and harass Guarnere" Charlie said.

Bill had been a frequent visitor in Charlie's room and they had formed a tight friendship.

"Yeah well, you know wild Bill he came back asking for the nearest whore house" Nixon said and pulled Charlie in for a hug.

Charlie kissed Nix and looked him in the eye "And did you or any of the other officers point him in the right direction?" Charlie asked

Nixon just smiled at her and kept his mouth shut, Nix and Welsh had visited Lulu's but only to get a drink or ten.

"Lew, you don't know that place do you?" Charlie asked with a stern tone in her voice

"Well…" He started, he never got to explain himself to Charlie before she pushed by him and slammed the door shut.

"Shit" was all he said and stormed after Charlie, he found her sitting in the hall sobbing, he sat down next to her "Hey, hey don't cry, yes I know Lulu's, what soldier in France doesn't, that don't mean I ever touched any of the girls, I learned my lesson, I would never give you any reason to leave me, I love you, Charlotte Kahne and don't you ever forget that" Nixon said

Charlie looked up at Nixon "You love me? No one has ever said that to me before" Charlie said

"No one, not even your parents" Nixon said

"I don't have parents, my mom was a drunk, who never knew who my father was, I have spend my child hood in orphanages, because no one wanted to adopt me" Charlie said

Nixon felt like an ass, he decided right there and then he would protect Charlie from everything, he would be the constant in her life she never had as a child.

"I love you to" Charlie said and let Nix help her up

"let's get you refitted and find the two lovebirds, so we can get out of here" Nixon said

Charlie was holding on to Nixon like she was never letting go of him, she loved him and knowing he loved her back was just the best feeling ever.

Right before they reached the door of the hospital they heard some yell "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? YOU ASS"

Nixon and Charlie looked at each other and Charlie said "Dana"

"Yeah let's go see what is happening" Nixon said

They found Dana poking her finger into Speirs chest and telling him exactly what she thought of him.

Charlie went over to Heyliger and sat down on his bedside, she took his hand "What happened here?" She asked and looked at Moose

"Dana found Speirs here, chewing my ass out for kissing her, Dana went bat shit crazy and started to tell Speirs what she thought of him and his possessiveness" Moose said

The people in the room not fighting, just looked at the couple and waited for them to kiss and make up.

They got a big surprise "I can't believe I thought I loved you, you ass" Dana said and stormed out.

* * *

She was really pissed at Speirs; she would never forgive him for acting like he had toward Heyliger.

Evidently he wasn't the man she thought he was.

Dana stormed out of the hospital and ran smack into a hard body "Wow there love, why are you in such a hurry" Dana looked up and right into the eyes of Dobie.

"Why are all men idiots?" She asked him

"I don't know why all yank men are idiots, but I know I am not an idiot, let me show you" Dobie said and guided Dana towards the mess.

They both grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down

Dobie let Dana rant about Speirs and what had happened in the hospital, he put his hand over hers and waited for her to finish.

"You know love, there are men out there who aren't controlling and scary and who would love to have you, to marry you" Dobie said

Dana looked at Dobie, he was a good looking man and he was kind and a great soldier and leader.

She could love him, if she just gave him a chance.

"Look Dana, I would love for you to come join the first airborne and there may even be a promotion in it for you and it would give us a chance to see, where this thing there is between us is going" Dobie said.

Dana nodded "yeah I guess you are right, it could be fun, I guess" Dana said

"Great, I will get it settled with Bob then" Dobie said

They both got up, Dana needed to find Charlie and let her know what was going on, and staying in England would give her a chance to get to know Ella better.

Dana found Charlie at the mess "Hey can I talk to you? Outside please" She said

Charlie got up "yeah what is up" Charlie said

The two girls walked out of the mess and sat down on a secluded part of the camp.

"I am staying here with the Brits" Dana said

"Why?" Charlie asked

"I need sometime for myself, away from everything that has happened" Dana said

"Well if you feel like that, just get back to us, before Bastogne please" Charlie said and hugged Dana

The two girls talked for a long time and suddenly they realized it was time for Charlie to leave for France.

Dana walked Charlie to the Jeep, Nixon and Speirs was there. Speirs just looked right thru Dana and Nix realized that Dana didn't have her gear with her.

"Where is your gear?" he asked her

"I am not going with, you I am staying with the Brits" Dana said

"Right" was all Nixon Said?

Charlie hugged Dana "write" she said and climbed in the back of the jeep, as it took off she turned to Speirs "You know this is all you doing" She said, Speirs just nodded.


	11. Chapter 11

Dana just stood there and watched the jeep disappear, warm tears started to run down her cheeks.

Had she made the right choice? Was she really ready to leave Ron? And cut him and of all the Easy boys out of her life?

She sighed and started to walk toward the officer's quarters, she had to pack up her stuff and move into the Brits billets.

Dana took one last deep breath and shook her head, it was too late to have any regrets now, she had made her decision, and now she had to make the best of it.

As she walked towards her quarters she waved to the people who greeted her. When she reached the building she had been billeted to she started to hum an Adele song and by the time she got to the chorus, she was crying her eyes out,

"Never in my life will I find someone like you" She finished her packing and sat down on the bed. She thought about the time easy had spent in Aldbourne after the Normandy campaign and how happy she had been at that time. She was looking forward to working with the Brits. It would definitely be interesting and David was a nice and kind man, even if he was a little mad and pulled some crazy stuff once in a while like escaping from the hospital and swimming the Rhine after being captured by the Germans. He was more like Ron than any of them knew, Dana wondered if she had switched one crazy ass tempered man for another.

Dana got up off the bed and walked over to look out the window. She looked at the American and British soldiers milling around, many of them replacements from the 17th Airborne. She could clearly tell the replacements from the veterans, they still had that innocent look in their eyes, they had never seen a buddy get killed or wounded, and they had never held the hand of a dying man while he was calling out for his mother to come and save him. Dana had never forgotten the look on Hashey's and Garcia's faces when Miller was killed in Holland. Hashey and Garcia lost a good friend and at the same time they lost their innocence, it was the day they became men, a day they would never forget and had to live with for the rest of their life. Heck she would never forget the day Market Garden fell on its ass, they had lost a few good men.

Dana picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder and took one last look around the room she shared with her friends, during their down time after Normandy, and turned off the light and closed the door behind her.

"Well, when the lord closes one door, he opens a window" Dana thought to herself and walked down the long quiet corridor. When she opened the door to the building and walked outside she was met by the British colonel.

"Ready" He said and took Dana's bag from her.

"Yeah, yeah I guess I am." Dana said and turned and took a last look at her old billet before she walked after Dobey, he held his hand out to her, when she took it she felt him squeeze it and he turned towards Dana and smiled.

"I managed to get you, a room at my billet" Dobey said

Dana smiled and looked down at her feet, the two officers walked hand in hand a cross the street and to the jeep Dobey had waiting for them where a chauffeur was waiting for them. He was leaning up against the jeep smoking and checking out the local attractions. When the private noticed the colonel he jumped to attention and saluted the Colonel and looked at Dana and saluted her,

"Ma'am" he said and took a step forward to help her into the jeep, Dobey quickly brushed past him and helped Dana into the back of the jeep. Dobey gave the private a stern glare to warn him from making any more mistakes, the young private blushed and started the jeep. Dana put a hand on Dobey's shoulder,

"Go easy on the kid, he was just being friendly." Dobey turned around and looked at Dana with amusement in his eyes,

"Well if you insist" he said. The private smiled to himself, it would definitely be interesting having the American captain around.

They drove in silence to the British officer's billet; the private stopped the jeep and tried to help Dana out of the jeep, but was once again intercepted by the colonel. Dana shot the young private a smile, she knew exactly what he was doing, he was required by regulation to offer to help her and by doing his duty he could irritate the colonel a little. This was one of the only privileges the privates had.

Dobey took Dana's bag and grabbed her hand and led her towards the estate house, the British officers were billeted to. Dobey opened the door and led Dana to one of the up stairs bed rooms; he opened the door for her,

"This is your room, and you have it to your self, for now anyway" He dropped her bag on the bed, "Come on then let me show you the rest of the house" Dobey led her through the house and pointed out the offices, the kitchen, and the dinning room. He led her back to her bedroom and opened the door.

"I … Dana will you have dinner with me tonight?" Dobey asked her. Dana looked at Dobey, of course she would, but she couldn't help but let him sweat a little. Dobey looked over her head and waited for her answer. He got nervous, had he been to forward? Should he have waited before he asked her out? He decided he had done the right thing. They didn't know if the would be redeployed tomorrow, so they had to live in the now.

"Of course I will, but right now I need some rest so see you at seven then?" Dana said.

"Yes, nineteen hundred hours" Dobey said. Dana closed the door and started to unpack her bag, she had pretty much brought everything she owned with her, and Charlie had promised her she would ship the remainder of her footlocker to Aldbourne. There was a second door in the room and Dana walked over and opened it, much to her surprise the door led into a bathroom, in the bathroom was a big bath tub. She walked over and opened for the water and there was actually hot water.

Dana quickly filled up the tub and shed her uniform and climbed in, and she dosed off while in the bath tub. She woke up when the water started to get cold; she climbed out of the tub and dried of with an army issued towel she had found in the closet in the bedroom. She walked into her room, it was only four o'clock, so Dana decided to get a little sleep before she had to meet Dobey in the hall. She lay down and pulled the blanket up to her chin and she fell fast a sleep.

When Dana woke up she felt refreshed and she was actually looking forward to her date with Dobey. All she had to wear was her class A's, so she didn't have to worry about what to wear. She put on some make up and did her hair and by seven o'clock she was ready. She picked up her garrison hat and walked out of the door. Dobey was waiting for Dana in the hall; he was pacing up and down looking towards the stairs every five seconds, when finally he heard the door to her room close and the sound of her foot steps walking towards the stairs.

When she descended down the stairs she took his breath away. She looked amazing in her regular uniform, but all dressed up in class A's… she was absolutely stunning. He walked over to the bottom of the stairs and took her hand; Dana smiled and gave his hand a little squeeze. Dobey opened the door for her and led her out to a waiting jeep; he helped Dana into the passenger seat, he walked around the front of the jeep, got in the driver seat, and started the jeep. Dana looked at him,

"So you gave your driver the night of?" she said.

"I prefer to drive my date around my self" Dobey responded. They ended up at a small café in one of the nearby towns; they enjoyed some good food and each others company. They stayed at the café sharing stories about their respective companies, Dobey tried to give Dana some pointers about the men she would be serving with. She was looking forward to meeting them, they sounded like a great bunch of guys and she knew they were also a bunch of experienced men and she would be able to learn a lot from them.

It was late before they headed back to Aldbourne; they decided to swing by the local pub, so Dana could meet some of the men. Dobey parked the jeep in front of the pub and helped Dana out; he led her towards the door with his hand on the small of her back. When they walked in Dobey was greeted by his men, a couple of the officers came over and shook his hand. A captain came over and slapped Dobey on the back,

"So you finally talked her into joining us." the captain said. Dobey just smiled,

"Yes, I did. You know I can be rather irresistible when I have to" The Captain, Dana now recognized as one of the men they had rescued in Holland, held out his hand to her,

"Captain Hogben." he said in a Geordie accent.

"Captain Grey." Dana said.

"I know, this man here hasn't stopped chatting about you since the first time he saw you" the Geordie captain said. Dana turned around and looked at Dobey,

"Is that so?" she said and smiled, she leaned closer into Dobey and he put his arm around her waist. They talked with a few of the officers for a while. Later, Dana was dancing with a pilot from the RAF and Dobey hadn't taken his eyes of her all night. Captain Hogben slapped him on the back

"You got it bad don't you?" he said and grinned at his commanding officer.

"I suppose I do." Dobey replied.

"Ask her to marry you. Right now, right here, you know we are moving out again and you don't know if we are going to Africa or worse." Hogben said. Both of the officers had probably had a little more to drink than they should and in Dobey's fogged mind it sounded like a good idea. Dobey made a sign and had the music stopped. He walked over and pulled Dana out of the arms of the RAF pilot; he got down on one knee and took her hand. Dana looked at him, she wasn't exactly sober herself, and she smiled at him not exactly sure what was going on.

"Dana, since the first time I saw you I have loved you, so will you please marry me?" Dobey looked at her with uncovered hope and love in his eyes. Dana looked at him and in her less than sober mind it sounded like a good idea.

"Yes, I will marry you" she said. Dobey got up and took her in his arms and lifted her of the ground and gave her a big kiss. Dana didn't notice in her current state, but the kiss didn't give her the feeling of fire works Ron's kisses gave her. The two of them staggered out of the pub and ordered a passing private to drive them back to the officer's billet. The next morning Dana woke up and looked at the man in the bed next to her and then looked at her hand and sure enough there was a ring on her finger. So it wasn't a dream, Dobey had proposed to her and she had accepted. She was actually happy; she knew Dobey could give her the stability she so desperately needed. He was a kind and handsome man, so all in all not a bad catch.

She put on her uniform and staggered towards the kitchen, she needed coffee and now. Dana found the kitchen; she dismissed the privates when they tried to salute her and insisted on serving her coffee in the dinning room. She took her cup with her outside and sat down in the garden on a lawn chair, and she closed her eyes and soaked in the peace and quiet. It was cold, but the fresh crisp air felt great. Dana opened the eyes when she heard steps, which stopped in front of her and a shadow fell over her. Dana opened her eyes and saw Major Hamlin looking down at her and smiled.

"So you decided to stay here, and you got engaged" Major Hamlin said.

"Yeah it was about time" Dana said.

"Well I won't try and talk you out of it, just be sure it's the right thing for you and not just for the Colonel." Major Hamlin said. Dana looked at the major, she looked tired, but she had a goofy grin on her face. Dana noticed the ring on Ella's finger.

"I am not the only one who got engaged, do tell." Dana said.

"Bob asked me last night and I accepted." Ella said with a big grin on her face

"Well congrats Major." Dana said.

In Paris Winters and Emma was honey mooning, which meant they hadn't left the room the first twenty four hours. When Emma woke up on the morning of their last day in Paris, she turned to her side and studied the man lying next to her.

He was utter perfection to her, she had always admired him. At West point he had been the subject of her research paper and now she was here with him. How many girls could say they married their hero? Winters slowly opened his eyes and noticed the way his new bride was looking at him, he smiled and reached for her, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a passionate kiss.

"Good morning," he said when they pulled a part.

"Good morning to you too" Emma said.

"We best get up and get ready for breakfast." Winters said and push the cover of his naked body.

Emma looked at him like a child in a candy store, Winters noticed and looked at her and started to put on his boxers "No, no, don't look at me like that. That look right there is the reason we have been stuck in this room for the past twenty four hours." Winters said and walked into the joining bath room.

Emma stayed in bed and looked at the door when she heard Dick turn on the water she imagined him naked under the hot steaming water, she had to stop herself from running in there and do him over and over again. Winters appeared in the door wearing nothing but a towel and a smile. Emma could feel her heart jump out of her chest. Underneath his uniform, Winters hid a great, awesome, and amazing… Emma's train of thought was stopped by Winters calling her name.

"You need to get out of bed and get ready so we can check out and get some breakfast." Dick said.

Emma sighed and kicked off the covers; she reluctantly walked in to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

When Emma had finished her shower, she dried of and walked back into the room. Winters was already dressed in his class A's and he was, as usual, strikingly handsome. Emma got dressed and hand in hand they walked down the hall towards the elevator. They had gotten a little carried away in the elevator and didn't notice the elevator stop and a major stepping in the elevator. The major had to make himself noticed with a cough, Winters and Emma jumped to attention, but the major just laughed and told them to relax. He had after all been young and in love once.

They left their bags with receptionist and walked down the street to a small bistro not to far from the hotel. They sat down and a waitress came over and took their order, and the two of them started to make a game plan for the rest of the day. They decided to go sight seeing and they wanted to see the Notre Dame first. Then they wanted to walk to the Eiffel tower and, if they had time, the Louvre. While they ate their breakfast they talked about the war and the men. Dick was dying to ask Emma about what was in store for them, but he knew he shouldn't, he couldn't do anything to alter the course of history.

There was a bunch of young NCO's sitting behind them bragging about how tough their basic training had been. One of them claimed to have been forced to eat rats during his time at basic training. Emma and Winters just smiled, they knew he was lying, Easy had the toughest training in the entire airborne division and they hadn't been forced to eat rats. When Emma and Winters were ready to leave, the young hot heads behind them were getting ready to leave as well, not seeing the two officers behind them, they accidently pushed Dick so he stumbled and almost fell down.

Emma got rather upset and decided to address the NCO'S.

"Sergeant, please apologize to the captain," she ordered the Sergeant. The NCO'S immediately jumped to attention when they heard the order.

"Sir, sorry, Sir." they said, Emma just gave them a glare,

"I didn't see a salute there, sergeant" she said. The NCO'S saluted the officers and held it until the officers saluted them as well. "Now, go on and don't give me any reason to regret letting you go with out any repercussions. Go make your outfit proud and sergeants, no fighting." Emma said. Winters had never been prouder of his wife. The way she handled those young men, getting her message through without any yelling. He heard the sergeants mumbling something about her being one tough dame and Winters felt it was his turn to stick up for Emma.

"That's my wife you are talking about, sergeant." he said.

"Sorry sir."

"Just get out of here," Winters said and dismissed the sergeants. They walked to the Notre dame and walked around the plaza before entering the church. Emma felt the peace and quiet, and sat down on one the pews and bowed her head and prayed for her family, her men, and for the safe return of the people who were in the hospital in England.

After taking a few pictures with a camera, which Emma had commandeered from one of the battalion clerks, they walked to the Eiffel tower and got in line for the elevator. They took the elevator to the second floor and walked around; they decided to walk up to the third deck to take in the sight of the city. On the third deck they stood side by side and took in the sight, there were still buildings damaged by the fights in the streets. Emma turned and looked at Dick,

"Promise me, we'll come back after the war."

"I promise." Winters said. Walking towards the elevator Winters stopped Emma and pulled her towards him, he put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her, "Thank you for marrying me." he said and kissed her. Emma smiled and kissed him back. In the restaurant on the first deck, they sat down and ordered lunch. Winters had no idea it would be the last decent meal he would have in months. Winters looked at his wrist watch, "Its time to get going" he said At the hotel they picked up their holding bags and flagged down a Taxi, which took them to train station. The Taxi ride was silent, both Winters and Emma was thinking about what they would return too. While they were waiting on the platform, Emma kissed Winters on the cheek,

"Thank you, this have been the best honey moon ever." She said.

The Jeep ride from England and back to France had been unpleasant to say the least; Speirs had been creepy quiet, so Charlie and Nix had been real quiet as well. When they arrived back in Mourmelon, Charlie let out a sigh. It was nice to be back amongst the men. Speirs just jumped out of the jeep and disappeared towards the Dog Company's barrack. Nix and Charlie looked at each other, the Dog men were in for a real treat, a pissed off Speirs. Nixon and Charlie were greeted by a smiling Camilla, when she noticed Dana was absent her smile faltered,

"Where's Dana?"

"In England with Dobey." Charlie said and tried to pull her holding bag out of the back of the jeep.

Nixon pulled it out and carried it toward Battalion CP; Charlie just shrugged and followed Nixon.

Camilla was stunned, why would Dana stay in England when Speirs was here? What the hell had happened in the last forty eight hours? Camilla decided to go find Lipton, maybe he had some info, the men were worse than women when it came to juicy gossip. Camilla found him, Tab, Guarnere, Toye, Percoente and Malarkey in the mess. They were, as usual, bitching over Dike and Lipton, always being first sergeant and not one of the guys, was trying to get them to stop. Camilla smiled; she loved that man more now than ever.

"Hello folks." She said and sat down next to Lipton. The men gave her a mumbling hello and returned to their previous conversation. She waited for them to finish before asking if any of them knew why Captain Grey had stayed in England. None of them knew for sure, but they all had different theories all of them containing the sentence, Speirs had fucked up.

In England Dana was training with the Brits and she was enjoying it, she missed her Easy boys and now that Compton had returned to France as well, she was the only Easy member left in Aldbourne.

She was going to marry Dobey the next day, she was nervous and she was getting cold feet. Ella and Strayer had been married the previous Sunday, and they were disgustingly happy. Dana squared her gear away and got ready to meet Ella, they were going to check on Dana's dress and make the last few arrangements for the reception which was going to be held at the officer's billet. Ella noticed Dana was a bit quieter than she usually was.

"Ok what's going on? You aren't acting like a giddy bride." Ella said.

"It's wrong ok, I can't marry David. This is a mistake." Dana said.

"Don't worry this is just a case of cold feet, you'll get through it." Ella said.

"I don't know." Dana said. The two young women arrived at the seamstress house and knocked on the door. A young blond woman opened the door, she was the best dress maker in town and David had donated some parachute silk for her to make Dana's dress out off. It was gorgeous, but Dana knew it was wrong. It was wrong for her to marry David.

In Mourmelon the rumour about Captain Grey's non return had spread through the camp like a wild fire. Compton was back and he told everyone about the engagement, which made it even more miserable to be a member of Dog Company. Speirs was furious, he knew it was partly his own fault, but he still felt betrayed by Dana. Most of the men were assembled in the mess, which had been made into a make shift movie theatre, and Camilla was snuggled up next to Lipton. Luz was making cracks and imitating John Wayne and Malarkey was bragging about his latest winnings when the door slammed open. A couple of men walked in,

"Lights!" one of them yelled, and the men started to complain.

"Quiet!" one of the men said, "I said quiet!" he repeated, "Elements of the 1st and 6th Panzer division has broken through in the Ardennes forest. Now they have run over the 28th infantry and elements of the 4th. All officers report to their respected HQ's, all passes are cancelled." the tech sergeant said. There was a collected NO moaned out by the assembled men.

"Enlisted men report to barracks and your platoon leaders." the man said and walked out.

The Mess cleared out and Camilla got on her toes and kissed Lip,

"Guess I have to go pack up an aid station." She kissed him and walked off towards the aid station. Lieutenant Peacock was running after Emma and Winters,

"Sir, Ma'am." he said.

"Lieutenant Peacock." Winters said.

"Have you seen Colonel Strayer?" Peacock said.

"Where is your company commander?" Emma asked.

"Well I been looking for him all day, how is it that the 4th army's problem get dumped on the airborne?" Peacock asked Winters. By this is time they had reached an old oil barrel with a fire in it. Dike finally appeared and greeted his fellow officers. "Ah Lieutenant Dike, I have been looking for you." Winters told him

"Sir we have a problem colonel Strayer has not yet returned from some wedding he is attending in Aldbourne, can you believe that? We are going to the front and our CO isn't even in the same damn country." Dike said

"First of all that wedding is a fellow officer's big day and you have a bigger problem than that lieutenant Dike; you have men returning to action with out proper winter clothing and not enough ammunition." Winters said

"Sir?" Dike said

"I suggest you take a look around the base and get what supplies you can or have you done that already?" Winters asked him

"No sir." Dike said.

"K-rations, as many as you can scrounge. We don't know if we will be resupplied or not." Winters said.

"Yes Sir." Dike said in a small voice.

"What about ammunition?" Peacock asked.

"There is no more ammunition. Distribute it amongst the men so a least everybody has some" Winters said.

"Lieutenant Peacock, lieutenant Compton inform lieutenant Shames of the situation, get your platoons as best equipped as you can an report back to me immediately. Understood?"

"Yes sir." the two officers mumbled Emma looked at Dike, he had to be kidding. Did he just delegate the task without doing anything himself?

"You get of your damn ass lieutenant Dike and help your men." Emma said. Dike looked at her and then at Winters expecting some sort help, Winters just looked at Dike,

"Well get going then" He said. Camilla was in the back of one of the trucks rumbling down the roads towards Bastogne. The pitching dark was only disturbed by the headlights from the trucks.

"I guess the black out is not in effect, Luftwaffe must be a sleep." Compton said.

"What a difference a day make?" Garcia said Camilla was squeezed in between Guarnere and Lipton, her head was resting on Lipton's shoulder.

"Christ I miss those C47's." Guarnere said.

"We got a tailgate jump here" Talbert replied. Camilla smiled and yawned, she heard the guys mocking the new man, and finally conning him out of his smokes. The truck stopped and they all jumped out, one of the guys asked where the hell they were and the reply he got was that they sure weren't in hell it was to damn cold. Camilla kissed Lipton,

"I have to go and find Roe and Spina, don't go into that forest with out me." She said and kissed him again. Charlie came and found Camilla. They were talking about what would happen from now on, they had been hording winter clothes and blankets. Their holding bags were filled and they hoped their supplies would last. Suddenly a column of "ghosts" started to appear from the forest, it was the remainder of the 4th army. The men all looked at them with shock in their eyes. The "ghosts" told them to get out of there and someone made a crack about them just arriving. Charlie walked over and told the men to leave them be and just get what ever ammunition off them they could.

Dana was almost dressed when Ella walked through the door; it was almost time for her to marry Dobey. Dana was fidgeting like crazy, cursing and swearing at the ding dong dress, Ella walked over to help her.

"There you go" Ella said. Dana was wearing the beautiful wedding dress and was looking at herself in the mirror. Who would have thought that underneath the entire tough ass soldier was a beautiful young woman. There was a knock on the door and Strayer walked in,

"Good you are dressed" he said. Ella looked at him

"Did you want something darling?" she asked him.

"Yeah can I see you in the hall for moment?" He said. Ella and Strayer walked out to the hall and Dana could hear a soft mumbling and Ella who let out a sigh. When Ella came back into the room she was pale and quiet, she helped Dana get her bouquet and did her hair but she was distant.

"Ok what's up?" Dana said.

"Nothing for you to worry about." Ella said.

"If it affects you, it affects me, now tell me." Dana said. Ella let out a sigh,

"There has been a breakthrough in the Ardennes, the Germans have run over an entire brigade. Bob and I are leaving right after the ceremony." Ella said. Dana went pale,

"I have to... I have to go, I have to get to my men." Dana said. She started to peal of her wedding dress.

"What are you doing? They're not your men anymore." Ella said and tried to put Dana's dress back on her.

"No, I am going. You know what is going to happen in Bastogne, I can't leave them." Dana said. She put her uniform on, "let's go." Dana said and slung her holding bag over her shoulder. Ella and Dana walked out of the room, Strayer was in his dress uniform waiting in the hall, and he looked a little startled when he saw Dana in her uniform.

"Don't ask." was all Ella said. They got in the jeep and Dana noticed Ella and Strayer's bags were already in the back. Strayer stopped the jeep in front of the church,

"You have to tell him why you are leaving." Strayer said. Dana looked at the church and climbed out of the back of the jeep. he opened the door to the church, the only ones there was David and Captain Hogben. David swallowed hard when he noticed Dana coming through the door; she was in her uniform so it had to be bad.

"Dana, sweetheart, why are you not in your gown?" he asked her.

"David, I am leaving. I can't leave Easy and I know this is the worst thing I could ever do to you, but I have to go back." Dana said.

"It's him, isn't it? You can't leave him." David said.

"It's not because of Ron. This is about me not being in love with you." Dana said. She took off the ring and kissed David on the cheek, "Goodbye David." she said and put the ring on the pew next to them. Dana walked out off the church; she couldn't bring herself to look at David. She just went back on a promise and she felt ashamed. She was a horrible person, but she was looking forward to seeing the Easy boys.

"You sure about this?" Strayer said.

"Yeah I am." Dana said and jumped in the back of the jeep. The jeep ride was a long one, and when they arrived in Bastogne the 101st was already assembled there. Sink, Winters, Emma, Charlie and Nixon was looking at a map spread over the hood of sink's jeep. Dana, Strayer and Ella walked over to them,

"Thank God, we barely made it." Dana said Sink looked at Dana with a small smile and then looked at Strayer,

"You better get some OD's Bob and you to Major Hamlin." Sink said to Ella.

"Ok." they said and walked off. Sink told Emma her third battalion was in reserve,

"Permission to stay with Second battalion out on the line?" Emma asked. Sink looked at her and the at Winters,

"Permission granted." Sink said, "Good to see you again captain Grey. England didn't agree with you?" Sink asked.

"No sir." Dana said. Dana looked around and locked eyes with Speirs. He looked at her with a mixture of emotions in his eyes, most of all confusion, but also anger and hurt. He nodded toward her hand and Dana held it up so he could see the absence of a wedding ring. Speirs just looked at her and then turned away. Sink got in his jeep,

"Now, you beg, borrow, or steal ammunition, but you defend this area." Sink said and drove off.

Easy company walked into the deep frozen forest which would be their home for the next month.


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you to Ilovemedia, I bow at your feet, now lets get that WiFi fixed

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Dana had never been so cold in her entire life. It was the coldest winter Belgium had seen in the last thirty years and everybody was freezing their butts off. On top of the cold, they were fighting the fog and the lack of wind, which was need if the fog was to lift. Roe had almost got lost that morning while he was out scrounging for supplies. The German and American soldiers walked through one another's others front lines which resulted in Winters capturing a German soldier wandering through the American MLR looking for a place to relieve himself. Winters sent him back to regiment and the German looked rather happy over the fact he was would begetting out of the cold.

Dana was running from the CP to the OP. She had to check on Christenson and Gordon who had been out there for hours now waiting to be replaced, but she had no one to replace them with seeing how they were her last machinegun squad. Immediately upon their arrival in Bastogne, 2nd Battalion deployed into the Line south of Foy where they had set up their forward positions just inside the woods overlooking the plane southeast of Foy. The men immediately prepared their foxholes and attempted to get a few hours of sleep. Winters had established battalion HQ seventy-five yards from the forward outposts so he could be close to the men at all times.

Easy had been out on the MLR for two days now and Dana knew it would only be another two days before the fog lifted and they would be resupplied. Dana slid into the OP; she smirked at Christenson and asked

"How are you holding up?" Smokey looked at her,

"As good as we can in this hell." Gordon smirked back,

"Well I know one thing and that's that we are not in hell. It's too damn cold," Dana said.

"Anybody found our boundaries or the mission statement yet?" Smokey asked her.

"Nope not yet, Strayer stays at regimental HQ most of the time along with Major Hamlin. Winters has Nix and Charlie running from Sink to here so he can get his orders." Dana told Pat and Smokey.

"Major Hamlin?" Smokey asked her.

"Yeah, our medic has a sister. She got engaged to Strayer and she is now the new S4 commander," Dana said then slapped Christenson on the back and told him about the visit they had at CP from Sink and the general, "So Sink and the acting division commander show up and ask Strayer and Winters to give it to him straight. Strayer tell him how we're taking positions in one place and loosing them in another, then Emma tells him we're taking a lot of hits and that we don't have any aid station. Then she tells him that we don't have any supplies, the lines are spread thins and we have problems covering the whole line. So at this point, Nix and Charlie wake up and Charlie tells him how her and Nix took a walk last night and they couldn't find the 501st on our right flank. Nix tells him he tied in with a squad from second and how we have some big ass gaps on our perimeter. Strayer tells him we're short on men and the General just tells us to hold the line, close the gaps, and then tells us there is a lot of shit heading this way before taking off." Christenson just shakes his head,

"Damn brass." he mutters and turns to watch the line again.

"Well you guys in hang in there." Dana slapped Christenson on the back again and dug out of the foxhole.

Dana passed Camilla and Roe, they had been scrounging supplies and one of the men had made a joke about them using the morphine for recreational purpose. Their supply of morphine was so low they only had two syringes between them. They found Spina who was digging a foxhole and handed him what supplies they could, they told him about how first battalion had pulled out of Foy and Spina mumbled something not so nice under his breath. Suddenly they heard Dike calling out for Lip, which meant he was lost again, when he came across the foxhole with the medics in it.

"What's this? Three medics in one hole" Dike said. Camilla looked at him and smarted off,

"Yes…sir"

"Well what's going to happen to us if you take a hit?" Dike asked. Before Camilla could tell him she would come back to haunt his ass, Lipton showed up. He smiled at Camilla who gave him a small wave. "First Sergeant Lipton, where is my foxhole?" Dike asked.

"Its back here, maybe... Maybe you missed it." Lip said Dike mumbled god damn it as Lipton escorted him back. Camilla gave Dike the one finger salute and right at that moment Lipton turned around. Camilla blushed, she knew what she just had done was wrong but she hated the man. He had tried to corner her more than once, but one of the men always showed up before he could do anything. Lipton came back after escorting Dike to his foxhole and made sure he was tucked in. "Lieutenant, Can I talk to you?" He asked Camilla. Camilla knew she was in trouble when he addressed her by rank,

"Sure first sergeant." She answered him. They walked for a few yards before Lipton stopped and looked at Camilla,

"Now I know you hate the man, but you need to set a good example for the boys. They look to you for guidance on how to handle this situation." Lipton said. Camilla knew he was right; the man just pissed her off,

"I know, but if he touches me again or even looks at me or Charlie funny, he is going to die." She said and turned around and walked back to Roe and Spina. Lipton just looked after her, she would shoot the man if she got the chance and he was looking forward to the day they got rid of foxhole Norman. Camilla and Roe went scrounging for supplies again and while they were at it they tried to find some scissors for Roe. They passed Guarnere who was complaining about how it hurts when he pees. Camilla looked at him, "Well that's what happens when you visit a place like Lulu's. I'll get back to you, drink a lot of water." Camilla points to him and Guarnere turns and mumbles about why he should drink when it hurts when he pees "It cleans out the system, that's why." Camilla said and ran toward the next foxhole.

They were talking and joking with Smokey when they heard someone yelling "in coming" and they took cover. After the first round, they took off to see if anybody was wounded. They passed Muck who was looking at his helmet, "They peppered my helmet." he yelled. Penkala was yelling for a medic and was in a foxhole with Bull. When they got to him it turned out he was barely wounded.

Camilla took his aid kit,

"I need this you don't, not yet." she said and the two medics took of again. Camilla had sent Babe and Spina out to regiment to get some plasma. On their way there they wandered through the German MLR and Babe ended up in foxhole with a German waiting for his buddy Hinkle. Dana, Malarkey, Camilla, Muck, Babe and one or two others were sitting around and joking about Domingus's ability to cook when lieutenant Shames walk by asking for Dike. He got several responses, like how he should try Cp, Paris or Hinkle. Babe joked about how he should have shot Hinkle while he had a chance and Julian asked him how he would have done that by running back wards? Dana and Camilla looked at each other and smiled they both knew it would be a long siege at Bastogne and the guy's needed to keep their spirits up. After finishing their meal, the little group broke up and scattered back to their foxholes to secure for the night.

Dana was making her rounds, making sure her men was secure and ready to fight when she slipped into a covered Foxhole. She found her two OP guys there who had finally been relieved by a squad she had snatched from Fox. She sat with them for a short while, just shooting the breeze when Smokey told her to go check on Joe Toye and that he was missing something. Dana sneaked up to the foxhole and slid in,

"Hey Joe, You missing something?" she asked him.

"Home" Toye answers. McClung looked at Dana ,

"Ask him to Dance."

"Joe show me your feet, come on." She urges him and he complies. Toye's feet were wrapped in some cloth, "Where are your boots?"

"In Washington, up General Taylor's ass."

"What the hell happened?" Dana asked him.

"Took 'em off to dry my socks." Toye says.

"I get you some new ones, what's your size?"

"Nine, just like everybody else." Toye says. Dana Watched the line with Toye and McClung for a bit when she started to hum and when Toye joined her they were singing,

"I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places

That this heart of mine embraces, all day through

In that small café, the park a cross the way, the children's carrousel

The chestnut tree, the wishing well

I'll be seeing you through every lovely summer's day

In everything that's night and day Ill always think of you that way.

I'll find you in the morning sun and when the night is new."

Dana decided it was time to try and find Dog Company, so she stood up and said goodbye,"Well you guys take care." Then she disappeared. She wanted to talk to first platoons lieutenant. She needed to borrow a machine gun squad so Pat and Smokey could get sometime at the CP; she was sneaking around when she heard the distinct sound of a 105 flying over her and the trees started to explode around her. She dove for cover and two seconds later she felt a sharp pain in her side, she screamed out and a moment later she felt herself being picked up and thrown in a foxhole, a hard body covered hers and a soft voice whispered to her that everything would be ok before she passed out.

Speirs looked at Dana and noticed she was unconscious and she was bleeding from her side. He ripped open her jacket and called out for a medic. Ten seconds later Roe slid into the foxhole, he had been wandering around trying to scrounge some supplies from Dog Company when he heard the call for a medic. Camilla joined him in the now crowded foxhole.

"Ron, go find a blanket somewhere. Go!" Camilla yelled when Speirs hesitated. Speirs was more or less in shock and he just scrambled out of the foxhole and took off.

"What you need a blanket for?" Roe asked Camilla,

"Nothing, Sparky was about to panic and I wanted him out of here." Camilla ripped open Dana's jacket further and examined the wound, it wasn't as bad as she initially thought. Roe and Camilla cleaned the wound before Camilla stitched up the wound and bandaged it. Just when she was done Speirs came back with a blanket. "You stay with her and keep her warm; she is going to kill me if I send her to Bastogne." Camilla said. Speirs wrapped Dana in the blanket and held her tight whispering comforting words to her.

A couple of hours later Dana woke up, she could hear someone breathing next to her. She turned a bit and looked Ron straight in the eyes.

"Hey you." Speirs smiled and kissed Dana on the top of her head.

"Hey...Hey," Dana didn't know what to say she hadn't talked to Speirs since Aldbourne. "Look Ron, I am so sorry about everything. I should never have left you, I missed you the whole time and can you ever forgive me?" Dana looked at Speirs. Ron looked at Dana, she was with out a doubt the love of his life, and he knew she was sincere in her apology; He almost lost her twice he was going make sure he never lost her again. Dana was searching Speirs face for an answer,

"I forgive you, if and only if… you marry me." Speirs said. Dana couldn't believe it,

"What? Are you sure?"

"I almost lost you twice, I'm never letting go of you again." Speirs held Dana tight.

"Yes, let's get married then." Dana smiled. Speirs kissed her and didn't stop until Dana whimpered out in pain.

"Are you ok?" Speirs looked down at Dana.

"Yes, just a little sore." Dana snuggled closer to Speirs. The two officers settled in for the rest of the night.

Camilla and Roe were on their way to Bastogne with a wounded Sisk. They were going to beg some supplies from the aid station, and the jeep driver was telling them about how the Germans had captured the 326th Doctors and all. The Jeep pulled up in front of the church and the two medics jumped out and hurried into the church with the wounded Sisk. A nurse came running towards them, when she noticed who it was she smiled,

"Eugene." she said.

"Renee." Roe smiled. The two of them stopped and smiled at each other.

"Why don't the two of you go outside, take a break, I'll help out here." Camilla pushed the two of them towards the door. Camilla went over to Sisk to take a closer look at his leg; she found a pair of sterilized tweezers and started to dig out the shrapnel from his leg. It took her about half an hour to get the wound cleaned and bandaged. When Roe and Renee returned Camilla was ready to get out of there, she knew she needed to get out of there or she would never be able to leave, "Ready?" She asked Roe,

"Ready." he said. They hitched a ride back to the line with a priest and his driver, the priest was on his way to hold a sermon for second battalion. When they arrived back a CP, they noticed most of first and second platoon was gathered and all of third was there. Camilla noticed Lipton talking to Luz and Perconte a few feet away, she walked over to them and put her arm around Lipton's waist.

"Hey guys, what's going on here?" Lipton looked down at her,

"Well we're invited to another wedding and then these two yahoos' get to go on another patrol."

"Who's getting hitched?" Camilla prayed it wasn't Nix and Charlie, because that would be bigamy.

"Speirs and Grey." Lipton whispered to her.

"What? NO, really?" Camilla was surprised or maybe not, she knew Speirs was a quick draw and he had Dana in a position where she couldn't run from him or her feelings. Camilla stomped over to the CP, "What the hell Grey?" Camilla walked over and hugged Dana.

"He asked and I couldn't say no."

"Well good for you." Camilla smirked,

"I am sure your man would marry you in a heart beat if you asked him." Charlie smarted off to Camilla. Camilla just shook her head,

"No and don't give him any ideas." The Priest had set up on the hood of the jeep, and Speirs, Lipton, and Nixon was waiting by the impromptu alter for the Bride. Winters walked Dana down the snowy aisle and she couldn't stop smiling. When they reached the alter Winters kissed Dana on the cheek and gave her hand to Speirs.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to day to fight a war, but also to witness the sealing of the bond between these two officers…" Dana spaced out, she couldn't stop smiling and she was too busy looking at Speirs to pay attention to what was being said; she had managed to say yes in all the right places though. Speirs kissed Dana and the two of them got on their knees to receive the blessing along with the rest of the men. "Fight well for your God and your country. Stay safe." the preacher ended the blessing.

The men got ready for the Patrol, the order was to keep going until they made some kind of contact. Peacock would lead the patrol, Luz turned to Dana,

"I wish it was you Captain, that asshole couldn't find a snowball in a blizzard."

"Well this is another SNAFU operation and we are being led by mister indecision himself." Christenson mumbled as he passed Dana.

"I know George, Pat; I would rather be leading you, but doc Hamlin says I can't go." Dana patted Luz on the arm. The patrol walked into the fog and Dana was starring after them, she picked up her Thompson and was about to follow the patrol when two sets of hands stopped her. She looked over shoulder and found Lip and Speirs holding her back,

"Sorry Captain I can't let you go, Camilla would kill me if I did." Lip was dead set on not letting the Captain go anywhere. Speirs put his arm around her,

"Come on lets get you tucked in at the CP so you can rest. I need to get back to the line, but Nix, Charlie, Emma, and Winters will keep an eye on you and if you make any attempt to escape I will come back." Speirs kissed her and walked back towards Dog's line.

"Well so much for a honey moon." Dana mumbled and sat down on a cot in the CP; she rolled herself up in a blanket and eventually fell asleep.

Camilla heard gun fire and before anyone could stop her she ran towards it. When she encountered the patrol she stopped, "Good to see you doc!" Sergeant Martin yelled. Babe was trying to get to Julian but he couldn't,

"Babe, stop! Get back! Julian lay still!" Camilla said. She tried to get to Julian, but ended up with a flesh wound where a bullet graced her. "God damn son of a bitch." she mumbled,

"Doc you ok?" Martin yelled.

"Fine! Get Heffron out of here and pull back." Camilla ordered, "Where the hell is Peacock?" Camilla asked Bull.

"He ran ma'am." Bull said.

"He what?" Camilla asked, she never got an answer. They had to pull back. Camilla stomped back to the CP prepared to rip Peacock a new one only to find she didn't have to as Emma was already tearing into him.

"You left your men in a fire fight. What were you thinking lieutenant?" Peacock started to explain himself but Emma lifted her hand in the famous Emma Winters gesture and when Peacock once again started to say something she gave him the Emma Winters glare and that shut him up. "I suggest you get the hell out of here before the men come back and I will deal with you later." Emma dismissed Peacock. The men who had went on the patrol gathered around the CP to get a cup of coffee. Babe was upset and his coughing was getting worse, Emma sat down next to him and put her arm around him. Babe leaned into her and wiped away a tear,

"I promised him, I would send his stuff back to his mom. Now those bastards are going to strip him." Babe was about to cry. Emma looked at Spina,

"Take him back to your foxhole and get him secured for the night." Emma said. Spina nodded,

"Come on Babe, let's go." Garcia and Babe walked back towards the line. Emma looked after them and shook her head; she walked back to the CP and found Winters and settled in for the night. The next morning second battalion woke up to the sound of planes flying over them, the weather had cleared up and they were about to be resupplied. Camilla ran towards the CP,

"Get me a jeep and some men so I can get to Bastogne to get medical supplies." She said to Winters,

"Take first platoons first squad and stay in Bastogne for a couple of days. Give the wounded an amazing Christmas." Winters ordered Camilla. Camilla panicked, the church would be bombed,

"Dick, it's really not necessary." Camilla said.

"I won't budge, you stay there the night." Winters turned and walked off. Emma put her arm around her,

"Just stay out of the church." She said and pushed Camilla towards the now waiting Jeep.

Christmas was a miserable affair for all of second battalion, and not even Sinks pep talked helped them. It got even worse when they could hear the Germans singing Christmas songs all night, it was especially miserable for Buck who had gotten a dear Buck letter. Welsh lit a fire and ended up calling down a barrage on them. Welsh was wounded and Roe called a Jeep and they drove him to Bastogne. When they arrived at Bastogne the buildings were exploding around them, and just when they pulled up in front of the church it exploded in a fiery inferno after taking a direct hit.

"Camilla and Renee was in there." Roe mumbled, he had to tell Lipton the love of his life was dead. Killed by the Germans. It would be the second time the war caused Lipton to loose someone he loved. Roe drove back to line and he walked straight to the CP, "Sir, Bastogne was bombed last night and the aid station took a direct hit. No one made it out alive." Roe said with out showing any emotions. Winters sat down, Camilla was dead. Gone, and it was his fault he made her go to Bastogne and now she had paid with her life.

"Thank you for telling me, I will inform the Captains and the First sergeant." Winters said. How the hell would he tell his wife and her best friends? He killed their friend, and what was he going to tell Lipton? "Liebgott, find me the officers and the first sergeant." Winters said. Half an hour they were all gathered at the CP. Winters was fidgeting; this was even harder than he thought. He sat down, "Bastogne was bombed last night." He said. The group all stared at him, "And Camilla was in the church when it took a direct hit." He continued. Charlie broke down and Emma immediately hugged her and held her tight. Dana turned and walked away causing Charlie to look up,

"Where is she going?" She asked Emma.

"To yell at someone or to pick a fight with Speirs so she can get all her anger out." Emma said. Lipton felt the rug being pulled from under him, he looked at Winters,

"Thank you for informing me." He said and walked away as well. He found Guarnere in a foxhole and jumped in,

"Hey serge, what's happening" He asked Lipton Lipton looked at him but didn't answer, "Seriously Lip, what happened?" Guarnere could tell something was wrong; Lipton looked like he had lost his best friend. Lipton looked away from him,

"Camilla died. She was in the church when it took a direct hit, nobody got out." Lipton didn't even look at Bill.

"Man that's…that's rough, wow I can't believe Hamlin's gone. Man I am so sorry, you need me to do anything?" Bill asked Lipton

.

"Nah, there isn't anything anyone can do. It seems like I am destined to be alone." Lipton just stared at the line.

"Well let me know." Bill said before the two men sat in silence. Lipton was thinking about how he met Camilla, the day he first talked to her and how it seemed like everything fell into place. It was like they were supposed to be together, his love for her was so much different from the kind of love he had for his late wife. And now Camilla was gone too, now it didn't matter if he lived or died because if he died he would be reunited with Camilla.

Dana stomped through the lines as the men scattered left and right, they recognized the look on the Captain's face. Captain Dana Speirs was usually really friendly and easy going, so something was wrong, very wrong.

Luz found Guarnere and Lipton in their foxhole, "What's wrong with the Captain?" Luz asked Guarnere. Bill looked at Lipton and he nodded,

"Camilla's dead, got hit in Bastogne." Luz felt tears well up in his eyes; he had come to think of Camilla as a sister. She was funny and always nice and good for a joke, he felt like he lost his best friend and he knew the only one who was suffering more than him was Lipton.

"I don't know what to say, I can't believe she is gone. Man how is Charlie handling this?" Luz said.

"She broke down; Emma is taking care of her until Nixon returns."

Dana stomped through Easy's line in search for her husband and when she found him he was bending over one of his men who was dying and there was nothing anyone could do for him. All the anger Dana was feeling at the time disappeared and a rush of sadness filled her. This war was claiming too many lives and Camilla, who wasn't even supposed to be here, was gone. Warm tears ran down Dana's cold cheeks, Speirs turned around he saw his wife standing behind him crying.

"Hey don't cry he is in a better place now." that sent Dana over the edge and she broke down, Speirs picked her up and carried her to his foxhole and wrapped her in a blanket and let her cry. "Shh, care to tell me what have you so upset?" Speirs whispered.

"Camilla's dead" Dana said. Speirs couldn't believe it; Camilla, the girl who had kept everybody spirits up in this miserable hell was gone.

A series of coughs sounded and a soldier dressed in a bloody jump uniform staggered out of the ruins of the bombed out church. She walked straight towards a group of medics and before she could reach the group she collapsed. A broad shoulder medic carried her to the aid station where he dropped her on a stretcher and a nurse rushed to his side.

"What happened to her?" she asked.

"Dunno, found her by what was left of the church." He said. When the soldier woke she looked around, where the hell was she? **Who** the hell was she?


	13. Chapter 13

"Get up boys we have been called upon, we are pushing the Germans back thru the Bulge" Dana walked from foxhole to foxhole to get her men out and moving.

Easy had been sent to clear the Bois Jacques, Dana had third platoon moving out, they met little resistance, at one point, Buck stopped and ordered Malarkey to squad down, and he placed a map over on his back.

Dana, Buck and Lipton were discussing where they were, and which way to proceed.

"That means, we must be right here" Buck said and tapped Malarkey on the back of the head.

Malarkey protested "Hey take it easy"

"Quit whining, or I will nail it to your head" Buck said

Guarnere snickered "You should, it's made of wood"

Dana and Lipton was walking next to each other "Man I glad to be out of my foxhole, at least I keep warm walking" Lipton said

Dana looked at him "I don't know Lip, I don't like it, it's only a thousand yard attack, and we already had casualties, I don't like it"

Easy reached the MLR and dug in, Dana send out a patrol, who encountered a German officer on horseback.

"Hey Captain, look what I got" Hoobler was smiling, and wavering his Luger around

"Hoob hand over the luger, it's for your own good, and you didn't even take the holster with you" Dana knew if Hoobler was allowed to keep the Luger, he would kill himself.

"Come on Captain, let me show it to the guys" Hoobler begged

"No, that's an order" Dana stood nose to nose with the pissed off Toccoa man

Hoobler reluctantly handed over the Luger, and turned to help his buddy dig a foxhole.

Dana walked thru the line and to the CP, she figured Dike would have updated Winters and Nixon, but when she arrived at CP, she had four pairs of eyes watching her intensely.

Winters, whose whole face was red, looked at Dana "So, what's the status?"

"We encountered little resistance, and only some light machine gun fire, but we had a few casualties, Browns and Stevens" Dana walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee, and looked at her fellow officers.

Charlie and Nixon returned to pouring over some maps, Emma sighed, and turned and stared into the white snow covered forest.

"Well, I am glad you are ok, just…hang tough" Dana turned and walked out of the CP

Dana walked back to her men. Hoobler was still bragging. Dana sighed, she shouldn't interfere with history, and she really should return the Luger to Hoobler, but she just couldn't do it.

Dana walked over and sat down on the edge of the foxhole she shared with Lipton, he was talking to Shifty, Dana put the Luger down beside her and turned to Buck who asked for Dike.

"Where is Dike" Buck asked

Dana shrugged "He is around"

"Can you be a little more specific there" Buck asked her

"Not really Buck" Dana told him

"God damn it, I didn't see him coming thru the woods, and I haven't seen him all day. Where the hell is Dike? Where the hell does he ever go?" Buck was pissed off, and damn near his breaking point, a missing CO was a big problem

Malarkey and Shifty was digging a foxhole next to Dana and Lipton's, the two of them retorted "I don't know, but I wish he stay the hell there, and it would be nice if he took lieutenant Shames with him"

Lipton knew talk like that could lower morale turned, and he told the two men to shut up.

A shot rang out and the group dug for cover, Dana fumbled after Hobbler's Luger, it wasn't where she left it, she closed her eyes "son of a bitch" she mumbled, the little shit must have taken it back, while she was talking to Buck

"Shit, shit, shit, the dumb fuck" Dana mumbled

"What was that" Buck asked

"That was Hoobler, he just shot himself" Dana got on her feet, and ran towards the foxhole the shot came from.

Hoobler was struggling, and Roe was frantically trying to find the severed artery. Dana just stood there and watched Hoobler die, she turned around and walked away, guess you can't change history even if you tried.

Dana walked to the CP to report Hobbler's death, Lipton had beat her too it.

Nixon, Charlotte, Emma and Winters was all at the CP listening intensely to Lipton telling them how Hoobler shot himself.

Emma motioned for Dana to join her outside of the CP "did you try to stop it" she asked Dana

Dana kicked the ground "yeah I did, I even took the damn gun away from him, but somehow he got a hold of it again" Dana sniffled

Emma hugged Dana, and the two of them walked back into the CP just in time to hear Nixon say "Oh hell Lip, you cut that main artery in the leg and that's… that's it"

Lip looked at Dana "I am going to head back, too make sure the boys are alright" Lip turned and disappeared out into the falling snow.

Winters looked at Dana "Where is Dike?"

Dana rolled her eyes, yeah where the hell was the company commander "Hell if I know, why you want to talk to him?"

"No, I just expected to hear this kind of news from him" Winters gave Dana a stern look

"Well, if I see him, I will send him your way" Dana said

Emma looked at Dana "Take care of Lip"

Dana nodded and walked out of the CP, she sighed and decided to take a little stroll into Dog Company's line to visit her husband.

Camilla was working at the aid station set up 20 miles from the MLR on the allied side, she still had no idea who she was, or how she ended up in Belgium during WW2. She just knew she didn't belong here.

She knew, she had to be some sort of doctor or nurse, because the doctors had been very impressed by her surgical techniques.

After the church was bombed Camilla had woken up confused, and a medic from the 326th had found her, Camilla had been hysteric.

The last thing she remembered, was getting on a plane with a group of soldiers dressed in dessert fatigues, she knew that was in 2000 something, and not 1944.

How did she end up in 1945? Was she alone? She did remember a sergeant, but she couldn't remember her own name or her rank, or what she did in the army. Her Jump jacket had a Red Cross armband.

So here she was, a field medic in 1944. She didn't know a soul there, the nurses was nice and she was starting to remember her last name it was something like Hamlyn or Hamlin.

She enjoyed the work at the aid station, but there was something missing or rather someone, but who?

"MEDIC" some yelled and Camilla ran out to the jeep, to help the driver with a wounded man, at one point someone would pass through and recognize her, or so she hoped.

Peacock, Shames, Buck, Lipton, Welsh and Dana was gathered around Dike, he was trying to hand out orders, but everything that came out of his mouth made absolutely no sense.

Buck asked him what formation to use while dug in, and he got some crazy answer about how Dike would clarify that with him at a later time.

Dana shook her head, Dike wasn't a bad leader because he made bad decisions. He was a bad leader, because he made no decisions at all.

Dana and Lipton took a walk, to make sure the men was secured for the night. They found Liebgott, Bill, Malarkey, Skip and Talbert in a foxhole.

Lipton walked up to them "Hey boys, what's you doing"

Skip looked at Lipton and Dana "Nothing, just sitting here singing Dike's praises"

Lipton and Dana sat down on the side of the foxhole, Lipton looked at the men "Yeah well, I would hate to be a replacement officer coming in here, getting thrown in with a group of guys, who have known each other for what two years? Who have been in combat together since Normandy, is he just supposed to show up and lead them? How does a guy do that, how could anyone really earn the respect of the toughest, most dedicated, professional sons of bitches in the ETO? So if you ask me a guy would have to march of to Berlin and come back with Hitler's mustache or something"

The men laughed a little, Bill looked at Dana "Well, the captain did it"

"Yeah well, I am special, besides you only listen to me because you are scared of Speirs" Dana looked around at the rough group of guys.

Lipton got serious again "Anyway, you all do your jobs and we will be fine" Lipton got up and so did Dana

Dana put her arm around Lipton's shoulder "How do you do it?" she asked him

"How do I do what" Lipton asked

"All ways know what to say" Dana answered him

"I don't know, I just say what I think they need to hear, I don't always believe it, but we need to protect the integrity of the company" Lipton stared into the horizon

"You miss her, don't you?" Dana said

"I do, very much" Lipton put his riffle on his shoulder and walked away.

…

Emma, Winters Charlotte and Nixon was gathered at the CP, they were also discussing Dike.

"You know what Dike's problem is don't you? He is just one of those arrogant rich jerks from Yale" Winters teased Nixon and Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at Winters "oh god, another one of those"

Charlotte was sitting on Nixon's lap, she was freezing, and she wasn't looking forward to walk the line in three hours.

Winters continued "Division isn't going to let me replace him, just because I got a bad feeling about him, even if they would, who would I put in his place? Shames, he have seen to many war movies, he thinks he has to yell all the time"

Winters looked around the CP, he knew he would get his answer in due time. His wife would tell him, even though he didn't agree with her on this.

Winters continued "Peacock? God bless him, no one tries harder, but he is not fit to take the men into combat, I sure as hell isn't going to make him company CO, when I don't want him as a platoon leader"

"How about Compton" Nixon asked him

"Buck is the only real choice, but I want Easy to have at least one experienced platoon leader, not that it matter anyway, because I can't get rid of Dike"

Nixon looked at Emma "well we all know who you like to have around Easy, problem it isn't your job anymore"

Emma exploded "Well, we all know who should lead Easy, Sink is ok with me being a battalion commander, but he won't make Grey a company commander, its bull, and you all know it, she would be perfect, and the men all love her"

Charlotte nodded in agreement, Nixon and Winters looked at each other, and they knew Emma was right, but Dike was a favor to someone at division and he was sent to Easy to get some combat experience under his belt before moving on.

The truth was, Buck had changed since he got back from the hospital, and he was more serious. Dana and Charlotte was walking the line, the men were reinforcing their foxholes and Buck was talking to his men, telling them not to do anything stupid.

Dana and Charlotte was sitting, talking to Luz and Skip, when Buck showed up, and gave them don't do anything stupid speech.

Skip looked at them after they left "Don't do anything stupid, who the hell is he talking to? A bunch of morons who volunteer to jump out of a perfectly good air plane, don't do anything stupid, can you get anymore stupid than that?"

Skip continued to tell a story about how he once swam across the Niagara river, and how Faye, his girl gave him hell, when he mentioned Faye, Luz, Dana and Charlotte sang out "The sweet Faye Tanner"

Dana and Charlotte got up and walked on, they found Lipton sitting in a foxhole and Dike was standing on the edge, it seemed like they were talking, when Dike suddenly turned and walked away.

"What was that about?" Charlotte asked Lipton.

"He wanted to know where I was from" Lipton said

The group went silent, they all tried not to think about home, it was too hard. Dana and Charlotte didn't know if they would be able to go home. Dana wasn't going to go home, even if she could, she would never leave Speirs behind. Lipton just blocked out home, so he could keep his focus on the company.

…

The next morning Nixon and Charlotte was sleeping in a foxhole, when a jeep stopped and a runner yelled for Captain Kahne and Captain Nixon.

Nixon woke up and shushed the runner, so he wouldn't wake up Charlotte, she was sick, but refused to go to the aid station.

Nixon grabbed the piece of paper the runner was handing him and dismissed him. Nixon read the paper and knew he had solution to one of Dick's leadership problems.

Nixon walked around the CP and found Emma and Dick drinking coffee, he poured himself a cup and said "good morning" and held up the piece of paper

Emma looked at Lew "Eviction notice?" she asked him

Lew laughed a little "Not quite, but I think, I got something that will help you, with your leadership problem"

Emma smiled "Dike is being transferred?"

"No, I can't help you with that, but division has decided, to pluck one officer from each regiment, who have served in the heroic defense of Bastogne and send them back to the states on a thirty day furlough, get them out banging the drum for the war bond drive, that sort of thing, turn out I been plucked" Nixon handed Dick the order

"That's great, good for you, but how in the world does you leaving help me?" Dick asked him

"Well I am not going, I already seen the states, I grew up there that's why I came to Europe, I just wish they told me there was a war going on, the point is this thing is wasted on me, but I am sure we can find an officer somewhere in this battalion who can use a long trip home" Nixon and Winters just nodded at each other.

"If you even consider sending one of my girls home, I will kill you both in your sleep" Emma breezed past the two officers, in the end Peacock was the one they send home, and the men was glad to see him go.

….

Sink, Nixon, Winters, Emma and Charlotte was in CP "If the Camera comes by here remember to smile for the folks back home"

"Why" Emma asked Sink

"Hell if I know" Sink said

Charlotte was coughing really bad "Maybe you should stay away from the camera" Sink told her.

"Ok, Captain Nixon what do we have waiting for us in Foy" Sink asked him

Nixon started to explain, what he and Charlotte had spotted in Foy, when Winters excused himself, he had seen two soldiers get of a jeep and one of them wasn't supposed to be alive.

…

Camilla was working at the aid station on New Year's Eve, when a bunch of wounded men was brought in, one of them men stared at her like he couldn't believe his eyes.

Camilla walked over to him and smiled, she checked his wound "Is everything ok here soldier?" She asked him

The soldier just stared at her "It is you, that means I am dead, or you are hiding out"

"What do you mean?" Camilla asked him

"You don't know me? Camilla come on, it's me Joe Toye" Joe looked at Camilla expecting her to laugh and say, I got you.

Camilla just looked at him "I don't know what you mean, I don't remember anything, not even my name, but I guess it's Camilla"

Joe continued to tell Camilla about how the girls just showed up in Normandy, and how they stuck around Easy Company, and how she fell in love with Lipton.

Camilla tried to process it all, she handed Joe off, to a nurse, and walked outside and sat down.

Well, she got her answers and now she had to decide if she wanted to stay with the 326th, or go back to Easy Company.

Joe only stayed at the aid station for a few days before he decided to go back to Easy, when he was getting in a jeep he heard a voice yell "Stop, I am going with you"

Camilla ran after the jeep and jumped in. Joe looked at her and smiled "So you decided you couldn't live without me" he joked

"You know it Joe, and I decided if I want to get my memory back, I need to be with my men" Camilla told him.


	14. Chapter 14

Winters walked over to Joe and Camilla "What the… I can't believe it, you are alive" Winters pulled Camilla to him and hugged her.

Camilla felt a tear trickle down her cheek, she knew who this man was, that was THE Richard Winters and he apparently knew her and had missed her.

Winters turned to Joe "What are you doing here?"

Joe looked at Camilla and then at Winters "I want to head back to the line, sir"

Winters shook his head "You don't have to do that, get back to the aid station, get yourself healed up and take Lieutenant Hamlin with you"

Camilla got scared, no way was she going back, but Joe came to her rescue "I really want to head back to the fellows sir, and I think the lt, she needs to get back too"

"Alright, go on then" Winters noticed his wife dragging Charlotte behind her toward the grub line

…..

A woman came running towards Joe and Camilla, she hugged Camilla like there was no tomorrow "oh god, you are alive, I just knew it"

Camilla looked at the two officers, she had no idea who they were, but Camilla guessed that the women had to be special to be with Easy, in the middle of Bastogne.

Joe looked at Charlotte and Emma "Ma'am, the lieutenant don't remember anything, she lost her memory when the church got bombed"

Emma looked at Camilla, this was bad, Lip was going to be devastated, for him to get Camilla back and then loose her again, and it was absolutely going to kill him.

Emma and Charlotte walked back to the CP, leaving Camilla with Joe, he was the only one she knew and she refused to leave him, he was her security.

Emma looked at Charlotte "Time for some grub, I can't believe, she can't remember a damn thing, wonder if she sees Lip it will help?"

Camilla was walking with Joe towards the grub line, when a man with a heavy south Philly accent approached them.

Bill greeted Joe and then he noticed Camilla "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes" Bill looked at Camilla, she looked like hell.

Well, there was no doubt she was a part of the company and all the men seemed to know her.

Bill turned to Joe "What are you doing here?"

Joe shrugged "I had to make sure you were on top of things"

Bill smirked "I am on top of things, I tied me own boots once last week, all by me self" Bill and Joe laughed.

Camilla followed them to the grub line, the men became quiet when they noticed her, but Joe came to her rescue, "Ok fellars, the Lieutenant don't remember a damn thing, so leave her alone"

A replacement who hadn't met Dana yet, because she was hiding from Dike over by Dog Company's line looked at Camilla, "What's with all the broads in this Company?"

Talbert immediately smacked him "Don't talk that way about the lieutenant or captain Grey, they are some of the best leaders here"

Joe looked at the replacement "What's that" he asked

"That's Webb, a replacement" Skip told him

"Really, I thought it some guy I have known for two years and I forgot his face" Toye retorted

"Joe got hit in the arm, a New Year's Eve gift from the Luftwaffe" A Penkala told the replacement

"Have a lot of you been injured" The replacement asked

Charlotte who was skipping the line, smacked the poor guy upside his head "It's called wounded peanut, injured is when you fall out of a tree or something"

Camilla who had gotten her grub and sat down on a log with Emma and Dana on each side of her, smiled when Skip turned and told the Kid "Don't worry there is enough grab flying around here, you are about to get dinged sometime"

Camilla kept looking at a sergeant, who was leaning against a tree, and staring at her with an intense gaze, she knew he looked familiar, but who was he?

Skip decided to guide the replacement through the Company's wounded list "almost every single of these guys and girls has been hit a least once"

Skip looked around "except for Alley he is a two timer, he landed on broken glass in Normandy and got peppered by a potato masher in Holland, Bull he got an piece of exploding tank in Holland, now Luz here, he never been hit, lucky bastard"

Luz looked at skip, who had never been wounded himself "Takes one to know one, Skip" he retorted

Skip just continued "consider us blessed, now Liebgott, the scrawny little guy, he got pinged in the neck in Holland"

Liebgott pulled down on his scarf so Webb could see his scar "And next to him, that other skinny little guy, that's Popeye, he got shot in his scrawny little butt in Normandy"

Skip then turned to Buck "And Buck got shot in his rather large butt in Holland" Buck pointed to where he was hit.

"It's kind of an Easy company tradition getting shot in the ass" Penkala mumbled.

Skip then looked at the Charlotte, Emma, Camilla and Dana who had joined them "And then there are the pretty edition to the company, now Captain Winters, she got hit by a flying piece of bridge in Holland"

The Replacement looked at Skip "I thought Captain Winters was a man"

The men laughed "Well, this pretty lady thought it was a good idea to get married in the middle of a war"

Skip continued "Captain Speirs and before you ask, she is lieutenant Speirs wife, she took one to the side during a barrage right here in the forest, Captain Kahne took one to the lung in Holland and we almost lost Nixon at the same time, And lieutenant Hamlin got hit when they bombed the church in Bastogne, she just lost her mind though"

Skip then turned to Lip "even first sergeant Lipton here he got a couple tank shell burst in Carentan, he took one to the face…" before Skip could finish

Camilla continued "The other almost took out his nuts, I remember, I remember you and everything else" Camilla was so happy she cried

Lipton ran over and hugged her, "Oh god, I am so happy, it was killing me, just to look at you and know you didn't remember anything"

Camilla and Lipton walked of wrapped up in each other. The Company let out a sigh, thing were good again or at least as good as they could be in the frozen hell.

On January 3rd Emma and Winters decided to pull 2nd and 3rd Platoon, out of the advanced position, they left 1st platoon attached to Dog Company, which like most of the company in the 101st was down to 50 percent or less strength. Dog company needed help maintaining the MLR, Dana offered to stay with first platoon and let Buck take charge of third platoon.

This way Dana could stay with Speirs and Buck would get a small break.

Christenson. Perconte and a replacement was sharing a foxhole. First and second platoon walked by, the men teased the guys, "don't drink too much" and Malarkey walked by and pointed his riffle at them, "don't accept, if he offers you a cigarette"

The replacement looked at Christenson "What are they talking about"

"Speirs, lieutenant Speirs, not the Captain" Christenson told the replacement

"Captain Speirs, is she his sister?" The replacement asked Christenson

"No, his wife, the stories about Speirs, is probably just bull shit anyways" Christenson was toying with his machine gun.

"What stories? What stories" the replacement asked

Perconte looked at him "Speirs shot one of his men for being drunk"

"That's unbelievable" the replacement said

"And another one about him giving cigarettes to twenty POV before shooting them" Christenson continued

"Well I heard it was more like thirty" Perconte said between brushing his teeth

None of the men had heard Dana and Speirs sneaking up on them "Christenson, I got the name right, it is Christenson right?" Speirs asked the scared soldier.

"Yes sir" Christenson answered

"What are you men doing out here" Speirs asked the men

Dana was hanging back and none of the men in the foxhole had yet noticed her, she was trying not to laugh at the frightened look on the men faces.

"Watching the line, Sir" Christenson answered

"Well, keep up the good work and while you are at it, you might want to reinforce your cover" Speirs motioned to the foxhole, which was in a poor state

"Actually, lieutenant Dike said, not to bother we are only going to be here one day" Perconte said

"Lieutenant Dike said not to bother, well then forget what I said, carry on" Ron got on his feet and started to walk away, he turned "Anyone care for a smoke"

"Quit bothering my boys, Sparky" Dana finally stepped out from the shadow and slapped Speirs on the back

Speirs just turned and smiled to his wife "Hey, I was just making friendly conversation" Speirs slapped Dana on the butt and walked of laughing.

Dana shook her head "Everybody ok here?" the three men nodded and Dana walked of in the direction her husband had disappeared.

She found him in his foxhole, he was smoking and when he saw Dana a big smile appeared on his face, Dana jumped down in the foxhole "Don't mess with my boys, you scare the shit out of them" Dana scolded him.

"I didn't do anything just talking" Speirs smirked

"Yeah, whatever you say" Dana cuddled up to Speirs and she fell asleep.

…

The lead unit decide to take a short cut across the open field to get to the foxholes before dark, the other units followed and the Germans spotted them.

When the men ducked into the woods, they noticed that the German had zeroed artillery in on the position. There were shell holes and branches from tree bursts all around the foxholes. The shell were big, indicating heavy artillery.

Joe jumped into his foxhole to work on strengthening it "Argh, you gotta be fucking kidding me, someone's gonna die, someone's gonna fucking die, look at this shit, one of those first battalion fuckers took a shit in my foxhole"

Guarnere was looking around at the mass destruction "They took a shit in everybody's foxhole, I don't think they wanted to spend much time above ground"

Camilla, Shames, Buck and Lipton was standing in a circle talking, Lipton was explaining to them what he had observed in Foy, "They are just waiting for us to reoccupy our position" Buck said

"It's our job to hold the line here, we got pretty good foxholes, we just need to strengthened our covers" Lipton told the other officers

Shames chimed in "If they got us zeroed in maybe we should…"

Buck interrupted him "We hold the line here, sergeant Lipton is right, we are gonna strengthen our covers and we are gonna hang in, we are not gonna fall back" Buck let out a small laugh and yelled "Right lieutenant" to Dike who was standing ten feet away from the group

"Fine, you all take care of it, I got to go talk to regiment" Dike walked of and disappeared once again.

Camilla and Lipton was working on strengthening their foxhole, when a barrage began. Lipton and Camilla ran thru the woods yelling to the men to take cover, before finally jumping into a small open hole, someone had started to dig and then abandoned.

Lipton was on top of Camilla, who was shaking, this was worse than anything they had experienced before.

Toye was in the open, shouting orders to his men to take cover, a shell exploded just above him. Shrapnel all but tore off his right leg and hit him in the stomach, chest and both arms.

Suddenly the shelling stopped. All through the woods men were calling out for a medic, Camilla started to get on her feet, Lipton got of her "You head for the foxhole, it's gonna start again"

Camilla ran toward their foxhole trying to block out the calls for a medic, she knew Lipton was right

Toye called out for someone to help him, Guarnere jumped to his rescue and just as he started to drag Joe towards his foxhole, the shelling started again, a shell burst over Guarnere's head. Shrapnel tore into his right leg, mangling it. After a few minutes the shelling ceased.

Camilla and Lipton ran out of their foxhole, half way too Joe and Bill they encountered Dike.

Dike shouted to Lipton "first Sergeant Lipton, you get thing organized here and I'll go for help" And with that he left.

Lipton was shocked, Camilla turned and looked at Dike's retreating form "Lieutenant Dike, get back here, Dike…" Camilla shook her head "Fucker" she mumbled.

Camilla and Lipton ran toward the cries for help they could hear coming from Toye and Guarnere.

Camilla came to a skidding hold and threw herself down next to Toye" its ok Joe, It's gonna be ok"

Malarkey showed shocked to see what happened to his two friends "What can I do to help" He asked Camilla and Roe, who had showed up two minutes before.

Guarnere was sitting next to him shaking, he looked up at Lipton "eh Lip, they got old Guarnere this time"

Bill was put on a stretcher and just before they walked away with him, he said "hey Joe, I told I would beat you back to the states"

Joe Toye was in a lot of pain, and Camilla tried to ease his pain, best she could with her limited supply of morphine.

Dana came running to the scene and threw herself down on the ground next to Joe "Hey Joe, you don't look to hot" She nudged him, Joe just smiled, and looked away.

Dana looked over her shoulder, Luz came walking up to her, and Dana knew she would never forget his shocked expression, when he saw Joe on the ground.

Dana put a hand on his shoulder and turned him away from the scene "Luz, how is Buck?"

"Fine, but you should probably go talk to him" Luz said and walked away, it was too much for him to see his friend on the ground.

Dana looked around, Joe was on his way, so Dana decided to have Camilla talk to Buck. Dana patted Camilla on the arm "Go talk to Buck, I think it needs to be you and if you can, get him off the line"

Camilla walked over and sat down next to Buck "Buck, how is that trench foot of yours?" she asked him

Buck wouldn't look Camilla in the eye, he knew what she was doing and he was grateful for it, she wasn't going to talk to him about what he just witnessed, but she was giving him away out.

Buck just looked at Camilla with big empty eyes, Camilla motioned for him to stand up and she walked Buck to a jeep "Let me handle this, you just go and don't come back until you are ready"

Camilla hugged Buck and the jeep drove off, Camilla found battalion CP and informed Winters, she had sent Buck off the line with a bad case of trench foot.

…..

"Problem is, with Buck gone, there is no real alternative to Dike, as long as Sink won't promote Captain Grey" Lip said.

Dana, Camilla and Lipton was walking thru the woods, discussing the leadership problem Easy had, they were stuck with Dike and as far Dana was concerned, he was an empty uniform.

Another barrage started and Lipton, Camilla and Dana dove into a foxhole, a scrambling Luz threw himself in and over the noise he told them that Muck and Penkala got hit.

Malarkey took Muck and Penkala's death pretty hard, his best friends in the company had been Buck, Muck and Penkala.

Dana found him in his foxhole "Didn't I hear you wanted to take a Luger home to your kid brother?"

Malarkey looked up at her "Yeah"

Dana pulled out Hobbler's Luger and handed to him "Take care" she said, Dana nodded to Lipton who was on his way to talk to Malarkey about him going off the line for a bit.

Charlotte walked up to Dana "Ready?"

Dana looked at her and smiled "Ready as I'll ever be"

Dana and Charlotte walked away, they hadn't told anybody about their mission, they were on their way down to Foy to collect Intel.

Dana and Charlotte walked thru the wood and when they got to the edge they hunkered down and waited for the dark and for their chance to run across the field and closer to town.

Lipton was watching the line, when he noticed to silhouettes running towards town and he knew who it was, he mumbled something under his breath, this would mean a visit from Speirs soon and he didn't have to wait for long before the angry lieutenant showed up.

Speirs looked at Lipton and Shames "Have any of you seen my wife?"

Lipton tried not to look at Speirs "Well sir…"

"Yes first sergeant" Speirs looked at Lipton

"Captain Kahne and Captain Grey is down in Foy" Lipton tried to avoid looking at Speirs.

Speirs felt the blood leave his face "Did you just say, she was in Foy?"

"Yes Sir" Lipton said

Speirs turned and marched to the CP, he walked over and stood nose to nose with Nixon "Why is my wife and Captain Kahne in Foy" Speirs sneered

Nixon eye grew big "What? What did you just say?"

"The two of them snuck down into Foy" Speirs informed the officers gathered at the CP

Winters looked at Nixon "Did you know anything about this?" he asked him

Nixon sat down and ran his hands thru his hair "No, I swear, I knew nothing"

Speirs sat down on an old crate and looked at Emma "Did you?"

Emma squirmed, she had heard Dana and Charlotte talk about sneaking down into Foy to collect some fresh Intel "Well, sort of, but I didn't know they would actually do it"

The CP fell silent and no one moved, the only interruption was when Lipton showed up and expressed his concerns about Dike's leadership abilities.

Just before dawn Charlotte and Dana showed up, when they saw the gathering at CP, they knew they were in trouble.

Speirs got on his feet and grabbed Dana's arm and dragged her away, when they were about ten feet from the CP, he let go of her "What were you thinking? Sneaking away like that"

Dana looked at Speirs, she knew he was worried and that he would be pissed, when he found out, "Please, you are just pissed because you didn't think of going down there first, besides let's talk about doing stupid ass things after the attack tomorrow"

Dana walked away from him, she stopped and turned she kissed her husband "I love you"

Speirs pulled her close to him and mumbled down in her hair "I love you too"

Nixon looked at Charlotte, he was shaking, Charlotte was briefing Winters and Emma on the Intel she and Dana had collected

When she was done, she walked over and took Nixon's hand and dragged him outside, she pushed him down in their foxhole "I never been so fucking scared in my entire life, I love you a lot, I ain't going down there tomorrow. I think we can take the town, but Dike is going to get a lot of good men killed" Charlotte ranted

Nixon didn't say anything, he just looked at the love of his life, he was afraid he lost her again, when Speirs informed him, she and Grey had wandered down to Foy "Don't ever…" He said

Charlotte kissed him "I won't"

"Charlotte, when this is over, I am going to marry you and I am never letting you go ever again" Nixon kissed Charlotte

"Well good, because I am never letting you go" Charlotte snuggled up to Nixon

Charlotte was in love for the first time in her life, she was happy, and she intended for it to stay that way.

…

"Third platoon on your feet" Dana ordered her men, the attack on Foy was under way and Dana was leading her men, down thru the open field, they had machine gun fire covering them.

Dana knew Dike would order the company to stop and take cover before they got half way, so she had her men run towards whatever cover they could find and when the order came they had somewhat cover, but the squad which had followed Dana was hunkered down behind a haystack.

"He does know hay isn't bullet proof right?" Popeye asked her

Dana just looked at the scene before her, Dike had choked, and men was getting killed.

…..

Winters and Emma was looking at the scene which was unfolding before their eyes, Emma knew what would happen, but Dick wasn't prepared for it.

Winters was running towards the battle before him eager to get Easy to safety "You got to keep moving, keep moving forward" he yelled

"Dick get back here" Emma shouted

"Dick, Dick, Captain Winters, you do not go out there, you are the battalion commander, get back here, now Dick I understand your attachment to Easy Company…" Sink shouted at Winters

Dick just blazed past him "Speirs, get yourself on over here, get down there and relief Dike and take that attack down on in"

….

Dana turned her head and saw her husband run thru the field, he jumped over an exploding mortar and ran down to Dike and told him he was relieved. Speirs assessed the situation and did what Winters had told him, he got the remainder of the company down into Foy.

Lipton and Speirs had taken cover behind a bombed out building "What do you see Lipton"

"Infantry, a lot of infantry" Lip told him

"I Company is supposed to be on the other side of town, can you see them?" Speirs asked Lip

No, Sir, I am afraid they are gonna slip away, if we don't connect with them" Lip said

"Right, wait here" Speirs started to get up, before he got any further, he noticed his wife run thru the German infantry, towards a small wall and jump over it, Speirs headed that same way and jumped over the wall.

Speirs practically fell down on his wife, who was talking to the CO of I Company "What the hell are you doing?" He asked her

"Nice to see you too, connecting with I, same as you, now let's get going" Dana said and jumped over the wall, Speirs shook his head, he loved his wife, but he was sure she was crazy.

…

The attack was over, and the whole regiment was celebrating, when a shoot rang out and a man fell down.

The men all took cover and suddenly the whole town was quiet.

Charlotte, Lipton, Dana and Shifty took cover behind a building, Lipton quickly spotted the sniper. Dana and Charlotte looked at each other and nodded, "Building on the right, second floor don't miss Shifty" Dana said and took off running to the right and Charlotte went to the left, Shifty got the sniper

Dana smiled until she felt a slap on the back of her head, Emma looked at her "Do you want to be divorced before the war is over?" Emma asked Dana and pointed towards a pissed off Speirs.

Easy took Noville and the Rachamps. In Rachamps the company spend the night in the convent.

Emma, Dana, Charlotte and Camilla sat together and took inventory of the last seven months of their life "Can you believe eight months ago, we were sitting in a camp in Afghanistan talking about ,how we would love to be fighting with these men?" Camilla asked her friends

"I can't believe we are here, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world" Emma looked at her husband, Dick looked tired and fatigued. He had aged ten years during the months they had spent in Bastogne, but she didn't care, he was her husband and the best man in the world.

Charlotte looked at Nixon, Camilla noticed the look in her eyes "You found him, your soul mate, heck you got him to stop drinking, you are so lucky"

Charlotte smiled "Yeah, I did, and what about you and Lip, you change your mind?"

"Yes I have, I will marry that man and as soon as possible" Camilla smiled

The girls then shifted their attention to Dana "And you and your suicidal husband, I know you got what you wanted" Emma nudged Dana

"I did, and you know what? It's hard work, but so worth it" Dana laughed.

The men turned their heads in the direction the noise came from, and three officers and one NCO thought about how the three girls had changed their lives.


	15. Chapter 15

**I only own the four women.**

* * *

**_Belgium January 19 th._**

"We are moving out, come guys pack it up, we are going to the rear" Dana came running towards her platoon.

Easy was going to the rear and they were all looking forward to some much needed rest, showers and some clean clothes.

The Company were already on the trucks, when Nixon and Charlie walked up to Dick and handed him a piece of paper, he read it and turned around and looked at his battalion and then his eyes searched for Emma, she was standing by third battalion commander giving him the ok to move out the battalion.

Winters motioned for her to join him and the two S2 officers. Emma walked over and looked at him. Dick looked like he had aged ten years in the past month and he was kind of stinky, but Emma guessed she looked like him, old and stinky.

"Seems we won't be going to the rear after all, new orders, we are going to Alsace, get the men moving" Winters got in the jeep and Charlie and Nixon climbed in.

Emma shook her head, she was wondering if they didn't have anyone besides the 506th to plug the gaps in France.

Emma walked by third platoon's truck. There was only about ten men left and Dana was sitting beside Luz staring out into the horizon, she kept looking at her ring finger and Emma knew Dana was thinking about her husband.

When Emma walked by the truck holding the remainder of third platoon she stopped "We are moving out again, we won't be going to the rear, but Alsace"

The men groaned and she heard Dana let out a few choice words.

The route to Alsace was less than comfortable; the convoy had to drive on snow covered and slippery roads

Camilla was sitting with first platoon, Speirs had ordered Lipton to join him in the Jeep to discuss some company business, but Camilla knew better, the two men needed the comfortable silence they enjoyed when in each other's company.

She was pondering the whole war, so far they had jumped into Holland with the British 2nd army and stayed there for 73 Days, then been surrounded in Bastogne for 30 days, and now they were being trucked to Alsace to stop the Germans, this old war was mighty rough at times.

2nd battalion was kept in reserve while the regiment was deployed in Alsace, however Emma's third battalion took some heavy casualties, the last one on February 4th when a lieutenant from Fox Company was managed to get one man killed and six wounded.

The next day 506th was moved to Haguenau. Sink deployed the regiment forward with first battalion on the left and second on the right.

Emma's third battalion went into reserve and they got some much needed rest.

Rolling into Haguenau Easy was greeted by a familiar face. Webster returned from the hospital, he was walking from truck to truck asking about men who had been killed or wounded, he stopped by third platoons truck and climbed on board.

Dana looked at him "Where the fuck have you been?"

"The hospital" Webster replied

Dana shook her head and refused to look at Webster, Liebgott noticed Dana had tears in her eyes, he knew the rough and tough captain never cried she had to be thinking about Buck and how she lost a good friend.

"You must have liked that hospital, we left Holland four months ago" Liebgott told Webster.

"I wasn't there the whole time, there was rehabilitation and the replacement depot" Webster started

Dana turned and looked at Webster with red eyes "I am sure you tried to bust out and help us in Bastogne"

"I don't know, how I would have done that, Ma'am" Webster said

"Funny, because a lot of other men found a way" Dana looked at Webster with murder in her eyes.

The truck stopped and the platoon and Webster jumped of "Spread out until I know where we are going" Dana ordered.

A shell went flying over the platoon. Dana just stopped and looked at it. Webster threw himself to the ground, Dana turned and looked at him "what's wrong Webster, nervous in the service"

Dana smirked and turned around; Webster got on his feet, "no sorry ma'am" Dana just rolled her eyes.

"Come on Webster let's go talk to captain Speirs" Dana walked towards the CP and Webster followed her.

"Captain Speirs, what happened to Captain Winters?" Webster asked her

"He is running the whole Battalion now" Dana shrugged and opened the door to the CP

The CP. was bustling; Luz was fussing over Lipton and Camilla who both had pneumonia "Are you ok?" Dana asked them

Luz looked at her "Are you kidding me, they got a couch, they are alive, they got a blanket, snug as bug, they are probably feeling each other up under there" Luz smirked and walked out of the room.

Lipton looked at Dana "Captain Speirs, ma'am"

Webster looked at Dana "Captain Speirs?"

Camilla let out a cough, which led Dana to believe she had coughed up her lung "Yeah, they got hitched by father Maloney in Bastogne"

Speirs walked into the room with a German gold clock in his hand, Dana couldn't help but smile, that looting bastard, and she was convinced their home would be totally furnished with European antiques.

Speirs looked at Dana, he noticed her red eyes and knew right away something was off, he walked over and hugged her and whispered in her ear "What's wrong?"

Dana started to cry and all he heard was Webster and something else about how his presence had disturbed her fragile inner peace.

Speirs turned to Webster "You go away, second platoon dismissed" if looks could kill Webster would have been dead.

Speirs then turned to Camilla and Lipton "would the two of you go sack out, there are some beds with fresh sheets in the back"

Camilla and Lipton scrambled to their feet and disappeared into the back of the building.

While the Company CP was buzzing, Nixon, Charlie and Winters were outside "He wants us to cross the river?" Winters asked the two S3, Charlie and Nixon had been promoted right after Bastogne.

"Yeah, I bet that water is cold" Nixon said

"Should be able to get you some boats" Charlie said

They all heard some shell being fired and Charlie and Winters looked up at the sky.

"It had to be a full moon, so much for the cover of darkness, it's going to leave the patrol exposed" Winters wasn't happy.

Charlie Winters and Nixon walked back to the Cp. When they entered the CP, they noticed a replacement officer standing at attention, Winters just looked at him and nodded.

Winter removed his helmet "Listen up, regiment want a patrol for prisoners,"

Dana turned and shot Charlie the Speirs dead glare her husband had helped her perfect, Charlie threw up her hands "Hey, this one comes straight from colonel Sink, so it's not our idea" Charlie said and motioned between Nixon and herself.

Dana just pointed at her and then smiled "Sorry, I am just sick of all these flimsy regiment ideas" Dana hugged her friend.

Nixon smiled at the two female officers, no doubt they were tough and could handle themselves in combat, but Dana was burning out and fast. Charlie looked pale and Nixon had noticed she would get sick from time to time.

"Since the river is the main line of resistance, we are going to have to cross it to get to them" Winters told Speirs and Dana.

Dana looked at Speirs, who tore his eyes from her "What do we need to do?" He asked Winters.

"There is a threes storage building on the enemy side, up the embankment, we know it's occupied, you can have fifteen men, think very hard about who you want to lead the patrol, you need a lead scout and a translator, I will have the entire battalion on recovering fire" Winters gave Speirs a stern look.

"When?" Speirs asked

"Tonight at zero one hundred"

"Yes, sir" Speirs replied.

Dana got on her feet "I'll go, I can do it, just give me the remainder of third platoon and Malarkeys second"

Speirs and Winters looked at her and the both shook their heads "You are not going, Dana you are tired burned out and you look like hell, so don't even try" Speirs looked at his wife.

Dana got mad, she went toe to toe with her husband "Don't even, Malarkey is just as messed up as I am, and you are thinking about letting him lead the patrol, I know you, so let me lead the damn thing"

"NO, dismissed, captain" Speirs turned back to Winters.

Dana flipped Speirs off behind his back and Nixon and Webster had to stifle a laugh. The replacement, lieutenant Jones, was confused by the scene, how the hell did a woman fit into the picture and why did she feel like she could get away with being insubordinate to the company commander?

Winters looked at Speirs "I want this as safe and fooled proof as possible"

Charlie looked at him "don't take any chances on this one, we are too far along for that"

Speirs and Winters talked about the patrol, and Dana tried to get as much info she could by eavesdropping, but nothing, they were keeping her in the dark on purpose, so she wouldn't get any ideas.

Charlie turned to the replacement officer "Who are you?" She asked him

"Lieutenant Jones, Ma'am" he answered

Charlie looked at Nixon "Right our West Pointer" Nixon said and smirked at Charlie, he knew she was a West Point graduate as well.

Charlie looked at the lieutenant "When did you graduate" she asked him

"June 6th, Ma'am" he said

"June 6th of last year?" Charlie said with a surprised look on her face

"D. Day, yes ma'am" Jones said and knew Charlie had taken an instant dislike to him

Nixon and Charlie let out a small laugh "ok, don't get hurt" Nixon said and pushed Charlie out of the room.

Lieutenant Jones volunteered to lead the patrol and once again Winters just ignored him and turned to Speirs and informed him he would talk to in an hour.

Speirs turned to Dana "you think a noncom could lead the patrol?"

"I can think of a few, Martin, Malarkey, but there is no need, I can do it, Ron please, just let me do this" Dana pleaded with her husband

"No, you are not going on the patrol" Speirs told her

"Sir, request permission to go on the patrol" Jones said once again and once again Speirs denied. The lieutenant was too inexperienced and if Winters need fool proof and save, an inexperienced officer wasn't going to lead the patrol.

Speirs turned to Jones "Report to second platoon"

Speirs grabbed Dana's hand and dragged her towards one of the empty bedrooms in the back; he opened a door and found Camilla and Lipton sleeping in the same bed.

Speirs then pushed Dana further down the hall till he found an empty bedroom, he pushed her open against the wall and he attacked her lips. Dana let out a whimper and kissed him back.

Speirs pulled back "I can't let you go on that patrol, because the thought of loosing you is killing me"

Dana smiled and kissed him back, she was going on the patrol no matter what and she would find away, but for now she would enjoy some alone time with her husband.

Speirs started to pull at her clothes and Dana did the same to his, before long they were both naked and breathless. Dana didn't care if Speirs was dirty and looked like he hadn't slept in months and had red rimmed eyes from the cold, all she thought about was the fact they were alive and together.

Dana urged Speirs to keep going, he pushed her back on the bed and laid down on top of her, he looked her in the eye's before he slammed into her, Dana moaned and urged him to go faster and harder.

The two of them couldn't get enough of each other.

Winters came to CP looking for Speirs and only to find Luz was the only one there "Luz were is Speirs?" Winters asked Luz.

Winters started towards the back "in the back, sir, but I wouldn't go back there" Luz told Winters

Winters looked at Luz with curiosity in his eyes "And why not private?"

"Well I think the Captains needed some alone time" Luz looked away from Winters.

"Oh, Ooh" Winters said when he realized what was going on

"Well I am going to, yeah" Winters said and walked out of the CP

Winters found third battalions HQ and walked in, he found Emma up to her elbows in paper work

"Dick, I am glad to see you" Emma kissed her husband

"Yeah, me too" Winters said and sat down on a chair.

"What's wrong babe" Emma asked him

"I… wanted to talk to Speirs and he was…busy" Winters hoped Emma knew what he meant

"Doing my best friend, I get it, Dick look, Dana and Speirs are very intense people and they just needed to feel alive, it's not like they didn't something they shouldn't, they are married"

"Yeah, I guess" Winters got up and kissed Emma on the cheek and walked back to Easy CP, relieved to find Speirs and Dana out of bed.

The situation regarding the patrol got settled. Sergeant Martin ended up being the one who would lead the patrol.

Showers and winter pack arrived, Dana helped Camilla get showered and then showered herself, the four women showered before the men was allowed to use the field showers.

Dana felt better and she smiled when she noticed her clean husband.

Dana hustled some information about the patrol from Babe and she pulled Martin a side, "I want to lead the patrol" Dana looked at Martin

Martin shook his head, no way was he going to let captain Speirs find out he switched places with his wife "No, ma'am"

"Come on Martin, just go to the river and we'll switch places there, no biggie" Dana worked her female charm on Martin and he finally agreed to let her take his place, he knew he would regret it.

* * *

**_Zero one hundred hours at the river bank_**

Dana slapped Martin on his shoulder and took his place in the boat; the patrol sailed to the far side of the river and climbed on to the embankment.

Jackson was lead scout and he threw a grenade into the building and went in after it too fast, the grenade went and Jackson ended up mortally wounded.

Dana almost cried, what a waste of life at this point in the war, she pushed on and they grabbed to prisoners and headed towards the boats.

Dana got in a boat behind Lieutenant Jones, who had been allowed to go on the patrol as an observer.

Jones turned and accidently hit Dana in the temple of her head with his elbow. Dana felt herself black out, she woke up when she hit the water and she tried to swim to shore, but her gear kept pulling her down. She was two feet from the shore when she gave up, but a pair of strong arms pulled her out of the river.


	16. Chapter 16

**I am not totally satisfied with this chapter, but here it is**

* * *

"What the hell are you doing? You want die don't you?" the man who had dragged Dana out of the river was scolding her.

Dana was shaking from being in the ice cold water and she was pretty sure she was about to get hypothermia "Relax Joe, I can handle it, I just need to…"

Dana didn't get any further before she passed out. The man who had pulled Dana out of the river was Joe McMillan, he was the commander of Dog Company and he had been watching Easy execute the patrol. McMillan had heard someone struggle in the water and had wondered down to the river side and noticed Dana in the water.

McMillan picked Dana up and carried her to Dog's CP. He pushed the door open and motioned for the platoon leader, who was at the CP, to help him. When the platoon leader noticed who McMillan had in his arms, he got on his feet and opened the door to the back of the house. McMillan carried Dana to his bedroom and stripped her down, he did feel bad about taking all her clothes of, but it was however necessary.

…..

Speirs was debriefing the men, he noticed how Sergeant Martin kept looking away and tried to avoid his questions. The men were all acting funny and they were unable to give a complete evaluation of the patrol.

Speirs looked around and squinted his eyes together "what aren't you telling me?"

The room went completely silent "DAMN IT, TELL ME, WHATS GOING ON" Speirs yelled at the men.

Webster looked around the room, he knew the guys hated him already, so he might as well tell Speirs the truth

"Sir…" Webster started; he was interrupted by several coughs and mumbles about how he should just keep his trap shut.

Speirs eyes darted around the room and landed on Sergeant Martin "Sergeant Martin, what was Private Webster going to tell me, before we were interrupted?"

Martin rubbed his neck and looked at Lieutenant Jones for help. Jones knew he had hit Dana with his elbow, but he hadn't heard the splash from the water over all the commotion in the boat.

Jones realized that Captain Speirs was missing by now, but he just thought the captain had snuck back to her quarters and passed out.

Martin knew the Lieutenant wasn't going to help him "Sir… the Captain led the patrol, we switched places down by the river, but no one has seen her since.

Speirs gave Martin a stern look and walked towards the door "We are not done here" he told Martin and walked out and slammed the door.

Speirs walked towards Easy CP, expecting to find his wife there, but when he opened the door the only ones he found was Nixon and Charlie.

"Hey sparky, are you looking for someone?" Nixon asked him

"Yeah, my disobedient wife" Speirs told him

"Well, she isn't here" Charlie told him.

…..

Speirs went searching for his wife, she wasn't at the aid station and she wasn't with any of her men and second and first platoon hadn't seen her either.

Speirs was getting nervous, where the hell was she? Charlie and Camilla were both accounted for, and so she wasn't with them causing trouble.

Speirs noticed the Dog Company medic slip unnoticed into the CP, or so the medic thought. Speirs followed the medic inside. The main room was empty, so Speirs followed the voices he could hear. He walked down the hall and noticed McMillan and the medic standing outside a door mumbling to each other.

When McMillan noticed Speirs he looked at him and stepped away from the door.

"Ron, what brings you here?" McMillan stepped further away from the door.

"I can't find Dana and I am getting worried, she apparently went on the prisoner snatch and no one has seen her since" Speirs looked at his friend and waited for him to tell him, what he was hiding behind the door.

"And what makes you think, you would find her here?" McMillan asked Speirs.

"I noticed you medic slip in here at 3AM, so that made me think, that maybe she came here instead of the Easy CP, when she came back wounded from the Patrol, so I wouldn't figure out she went against a direct order" Speirs waited for McMillan's answer.

McMillan just sighed and opened the door to the room Dana was in. She was sleeping, but she was still shaking from her encounter with the ice cold water

Speirs looked at his friend "how the hell did you find her?"

"I was down by the river observing, when I heard someone struggle in the water, I pulled her out and she passed out. I figured I bring her here and get her taken care of before I told you" McMillan waited for the ass chewing he was expecting from his friend.

Instead Speirs just looked at his friend and said "Thank you" before he closed the door to the room

McMillan smiled, well that went better than he thought it would.

Speirs stripped out of his clothes and laid down beside Dana, she turned when she felt a warm body next to her and sighed "Ron, I am so cold"

Speirs pulled her closer "I know you are, just relax and get some sleep"

Dana sighed and fell asleep again.

Speirs couldn't sleep; he was wondering why Dana insisted on doing things that would eventually get her killed. The running thru Foy, and her little recon mission the day before the attack, and her sprint to distract the sniper. He wasn't sure he would survive being married to Dana, they were too much alike.

…

The next day Emma had snuck out of third Battalions HQ and into second Battalions HQ.

She arrived at the same time as Sink and Colonel Harper of the 327th glider infantry regiment.

Sink had a little too much to drink and he ordered Winters to dispatch another patrol to capture additional prisoners.

Emma and Winters exchanged a confused look, the order made absolutely no sense, Winters decided to ignore the order.

A second patrol would only result in additional casualties. The freshly fallen snow along the river banks turned into ice in no time during the day, which meant the Germans would hear the patrol a mile away.

Winters just said yes sir.

Winters looked at Nixon "Why the hell did he want another patrol?"

"Well the two prisoners you snatched talked about everything, OB, supply trouble, Hitler's favorite color, nothing that gets us across the river, I don't what to tell you Dick" Nixon shrugged.

Charlie put her arm around Nixon's waist "Well, Sinks been on the horn all day bragging and now he wants to show off, you gave him a successful patrol and now he wants another"

Winter let out a spiteful laugh "Successful"

They were so close to the ending and men were still dying.

Speirs came up to the small group "Dick the men are mustered, I am ready to brief them, same rooster as last night, well almost, well mostly"

"No, No I'll do it" Dick turned and walked toward the building

….

Winters gathered the men "Listen up, Colonel Sink wants another patrol tonight" Winters said

The men let out a collective groan, Winters went on to brief the men about the patrol

"Won't we be changing the plan at all?" Martin asked him

"We will be crossing at 02.00 instead of 01.00" Winters said.

There was a loud thud and Winters looked at his watch "The outpost we hit last night just went up in Smoke, tomorrow I will hand Sink a report stating we were unable to secure any prisoners, look alive we are moving of line"

Emma looked at the men "Get goodnights sleep" she winked and walked out after Winters.

Winters turned and looked at Lipton "A word first sergeant" Winters motioned for Lipton to follow him.

Speirs turned and looked at Lieutenant Jones "Jones, join us at the company CP"

…

"Congratulations, you are here by discharged from US Army and awarded a battle field commission" Winters handed Lipton a set of second lieutenants bars.

Camilla, who had been called to CP, came running thru the room and threw herself at Lipton "Congrats C, you so deserve it"

She then turned and looked Welsh, who had returned to the company "Harry, didn't expect to see you back so soon, I was expecting you, to nurse that scratch of yours for another month or two" she said and hugged Welsh, who picked her of the floor.

"No, I couldn't live without you anymore" Welsh said and winked at Camilla.

Winters turned to Lieutenant Jones "Regiment has seen fit to promote you to first lieutenant, congratulations they want you on their staff"

Jones shook Winters hand, Jones knew the battalion commander wanted him gone, because he couldn't use an inexperienced combat leader

….

Easy company was moving out to Mourmelon le Grand for some much needed rest and recreation.

Nixon, Charlie, Winters and Emma was standing by the Jeep ready to climb in, Charlie and Nixon looked at each other and nodded.

"Before we forget, Colonel Sink has been unhappy with the appearance of you two uniform, says it's not befitting your ranks" Charlie threw Winters and Emma a small box each

Winters looked at Emma who shrugged, she had no idea what the two S3 officers were talking about.

Winters opened his box and revealed what was in it "Oak leaves" Winters said

Emma opened hers as well and Charlie and Nixon jumped to attention. Emma smiled and jumped Winters "can you believe it Dick, Major"

"No, I can't" Winters smiled and Emma pinned the oak leaves on his collar and Winters pinned on Emma's Oak leaves.

The train ride to Mourmelon took 18 hours. Dana had caught pneumonia from her trip into the ice cold river.

She was leaning against Speirs, she was dreaming and the fever made the dreams worse, she was more or less hallucinating.

She dreamed she lost Speirs in the cold forest of Bastogne. Speirs tried to wake her up, but by the time they arrived in Mourmelon, Dana was unconscious and unresponsive.

Speirs rushed her to the hospital and handed her over to the regimental Doctor, who rushed her into an examination room.

Three hours later the doctors had stabilized Dana.

Camilla walked out to the hall and patted Speirs on the arm "She is going to be Ok, it will just take a while"

In Mourmelon Winters was officially made commander of second battalion and Emma got moved to second battalion as XO.

….

"I can't wait to get to my Barrack Bag" Lipton was excited, he had kept a necklace for Camilla in the bag, he had meant to give it to her at Christmas, but since the company had been moved out, he had left it were it would be safe or so he thought.

Lipton walked over and the rear echelon guard, who saluted him. The sight which met him, had him enraged, all of 506th bags had been rummaged thru, apparently someone had led the fuckers from 17th air borne into the bags.

Lipton walked out and straight into battalion CP, where he was met by Speirs, Winters, Emma and Charlie.

"Sir, Ma'am" Lipton saluted the Captains and Majors.

"I went to retrieve my Barrack Bag from the storage facility, apparently, someone has let the 17th airborne go thru them, just to give you a heads up" Lipton said

Charlie's head snapped up "What, no, no, no please tell me it's all still there"

"Sorry ma'am, but everything with value is gone" Lipton gave Charlie a small smile

Winters looked at Lipton "Ok thank you lieutenant, I will take care of this"

"Right, just I know there is going to be a lot of grieving about this" Lipton said

As soon as Lipton turned around and left, Charlie sat and put her head in our hands.

Nixon walked over and squatted down next to her "Charlie, what is wrong? Why are you crying?"

"That Bracelet you gave me in Aldbourne, it was in my bag, I took it off so I wouldn't lose it in the woods, seems like I lost it any way" at this point Charlie was a blubbering mess

"It's ok, we will find it" Nixon got to his feet and mumbled "If it's the last thing I do"

Speirs followed Nixon out, both men walked over to the storage room, Speirs walked in and pulled out his footlocker. He started to rummaged thru what was left of it, he became more and more frantic and he was cursing under his breath.

"Ron, what are you looking for?" Nixon asked him

"Dana's wedding ring, I picked up a ring in Holland, I wanted to give her, but it seems like the 17th got it as well" Speirs was pissed off, he picked up the foot locker and threw it across the room.

"Those fuckers" was all Nixon said.

Speirs stopped for a moment and looked at the mess in the storage room and walked away, he walked over to the hospital and opened the door to Dana's room.

Dana was sitting up in the bed, trying to put her uniform back on, Speirs stopped her "No you don't, get back into bed" he said and tucked Dana in.

Speirs sat down next to her bed and gave Dana a small smile "So how are you holding up?" He asked her

"Fine, but sparky, it's not me that's on your mind, tell me what's going on" Dana looked at Speirs, waiting for him to tell her why he was mad.

" I picked up a wedding ring for you in Holland, I went to retrieve from my footlocker and it's gone" Speirs was getting even angrier

Dana took his hand "Don't worry about it, we aren't any less married, because I don't have a ring"

A nurse walked in the room and Dana looked at her wrist and then fixed her gaze at the nurses wrist "That's not your bracelet, Ron that's not her bracelet, that's the bracelet Nix bought Charlie in Aldbourne"

Speirs turned to the Nurse "Where did you get the bracelet?" he asked the nurse

The nurse looked a little offended "I got it from one of the medics, where he got it I don't know"

"Well, I need you to hand over the bracelet and that is an order" Speirs told the nurse

The nurse looked at Speirs "What? are you mad, NO"

Speirs walked over and stood toe to toe with the nurse and gave her a death glare "You will hand over the bracelet, or you will be charged with theft"

That was enough to scare the nurse, and she handed over the bracelet and walked out of the room, Speirs turned to Dana "You stay here, I need to find Nixon"

Speirs walked out of the hospital and walked toward battalion CP, when he entered he found Charlie explaining how her bracelet was missing to the MP's

"I found your bracelet, however my wife's wedding ring is missing" Speirs walked over and handed Charlie her bracelet.

"Captain, we are aware of the problem with the missing belongings, and we are doing what we can, but evidently the rear guard can't be trusted" the MP explained to Speirs

"I don't care, just find the god damn thieves" Speirs yelled at the MP Sergeant

Nixon walked over to Speirs, he stopped when he was standing beside him "How about we go visit the fuckers over at the storage facility.

"I like that idea" Speirs said and the two men snuck out of the CP

Speirs kicked in the door to the guard room "Ok who let the 17th in our footlockers?" He snarled at the two guards

"I don't…" one of the guards stammered

The other guard looked at the two officers "Our Sergeant" he said and got the hell out of the room

Speirs walked over and kicked the door to the back office open, here he found a staff sergeant, who had never seen combat, the sergeant took one look at the pissed off officers and swallowed.

Speirs walked over and grabbed him by the collar "Now you tell me who took my wife's wedding ring, a white gold ring with at princess cut diamond"

"I don't know, I have no idea" The sergeant looked Speirs right in the eyes.

Speirs could tell he was lying, there was turning back now, Speirs was furious, so he pulled his side arm and stuck it between the privates eyes "Where is it?"

Nixon stepped up to Speirs, he looked at the sergeant "Just tell him"

The sergeant pulled a box with four rings, and lucky for the sergeant the ring was there. Speirs picked it up, and turned and walked out of the door, before he was all the way out he turned to the Sergeant "This never happened" Speirs said.


	17. Chapter 17

Hello my beautiful readers.

Actually I have no idea if anyone reads this, or maybe I do.

If you have the time and have something constructive to say or just want to tell me how great my story is lol, leave me a few Words.

Anyway enjoy.

* * *

"What the hell am I doing out here? Going thru basic training again or what?" Dana coughed, she had been discharged from the hospital the day before and was back with Easy and her Platoon.

"Jeez, I don't know lieutenant, ask Winters, he is the one who imposed this terror regime on us" Luz answered her and lit a smoke.

Webster walked by the radioman and the lieutenant "I just wish to return to the freedom of battle" he mumbled, as he walked by.

The two Majors had decided the best way to integrate the new replacements, was to institute a rigorous training program.

"Well, I can think of a hundred other different ways to integrate O'Keefe and the others into the company, I heard O'Keefe had a run in with Perco" Dana sighed

Luz puffed on his smoke "Yeah I heard Perconte ripped him a new one, I heard Winters had to help O'Keefe, when we went on that night problem two days ago"

"Yeah, I heard, fucking replacements, they are all piss and vinegar, asking when are we going to jump into Berlin. I got warm grub in my belly and hot showers and I get to share an actual bed with my husband every night. I haven't been home in years and I don't know if I will ever see any of my family again." Dana said while searching for the company commander.

"Speirs, Luz, get the platoon moving" Sparky yelled. Easy Company was doing a simulated attack on a fixed enemy position.

"Hey O'Keefe! Here is your chance to be a hero, you are lead scout" Dana ordered him

O'Keefe went over the ridge the company was taking cover behind, he crawled over the ridge, to see what was on the other side. O'Keefe crawled back and told his CO the enemy was in sight.

"Ok, lay down a field of fire" Dana ordered her platoon and the attack began. A few minutes of firing away, had Liebgott, Talbert and Grant bored, they ran up and stapled the sandbag, which was set up as a mock enemy machine gun crew, with their bayonets.

Dana and the rest of the veterans just laughed and the replacements was impressed. Suddenly Speirs appeared out of nowhere per usual and motioned for Dana to follow him. Dana turned to her men "Oh, Oh Daddy is mad" she whispered to them and followed Speirs.

Speirs walked over the ridge, he put his hands on his hips "What the hell was that?" he asked Dana

"What the hell was what?" Dana asked him

"The attack, I never would have thought you would act so unprofessional" Speirs told her, he was furious

"Come on, the boys was just having some fun" Dana said.

"That was… I don't know what that was, but I do know it's your job to keep those boys in line, so do your god damn job"

Dana glared at her husband "My job? My job! As I see it you have my job. I should have been made CO of Easy when winters moved to battalion. I might not have a silver or a bronze star or three purple hearts, but that's just because I got cheated, because I am a woman, so fuck you, I am better soldier than most of the son of a bitches up at regiment and the men actually like me"

Dana turned and walked away, she turned and looked at her husband "Don't bother coming home" and with that she returned to her platoon

When she returned to her platoon, the men looked at with awe "Guess you told him" Grant who was the new platoon sergeant said.

"Guess I did, let's head out boys" Dana picked up her gear and walked back towards the camp. Dana kind of felt a shame of her behavior, she knew she should have stopped Lieb, Tab and Grant, but she thought it was ok at the time, but sparky was right, she had stepped over the line. As soon as Dana got back to Camp, she headed straight to battalion CP, she hoped to beat her husband there and luck would have it both Emma and Winters was there.

"Em, Dick, Ron is going to be here in a few minutes and he is going to launch a complaint against me. He is unhappy with the way I executed the simulated attack and I stand by what I said to him"

Before she could explain any further Speirs barged into the CP he was still furious. Dana looked at him "I stand by my statement" she said and backed away from the two Majors a little

Emma looked at the two Captains "Captain Speirs, Ron, do you want to explain what happened"

Ron explained what happened, Winters looked at him" Sort it out, you are married after all, Dana just keep the boys in line" Winters returned to his report.

Dana looked at Ron "Just don't come near me and find somewhere else to sleep" she told him and stomped out of the CP.

Ron just shook his head, he knew Dana was a hand full, but she had crossed a line and he didn't know if, he could let her step back.

….

Winters had bigger problems, Nixon had started to drink again, which jeopardized his relationship with Charlie, but also his relationship with the brass up at regiment.

Sink had asked Winters if he could work with Nixon. Winters had told Sink he could and Sink had demoted Nixon to battalion S3. Sink knew Nixon and Charlie made an amazing team, and he had kept Charlie at regiment, but demoted Nixon, even though he lost a genius at S3 work and a brave and commonsense soldier. However Sink couldn't handle Nixon's drinking and Charlie's cold stares.

Now all Winters had to do was tell Nixon and Charlie, but that would have to wait. Nixon and Charlie was participating in operation Varsity as observers. The 506th had thought Varsity was their mission, but Eisenhower, decided to send the 17th airborne instead.

…

Nixon was jumpmaster on his plane and Charlie was second soldier to jump. As they took off, they could see the boys from Easy yelling and giving them the V sign.

Nixon opted to remove the door after take-off, he was looking out the door, so he could see when they reached the drop zone.

Charlie was sitting next to him praying everything would go smooth and for Nixon to stop drinking. Nixon's drinking was becoming a problem again, she didn't know if she should leave him and let him hit rock bottom, or wait for what she knew was coming.

Charlie knew the plane would take a direct hit over the drop zone, so she was ready to jump.

One hour into the flight Charlie tapped Nixon on the helmet, and motioned to him that the red-light had come on.

Nixon motioned for the men to "stand up, hook on, and sound of for equipment check"

Charlie tapped Nixon on the arm and told him everything was ok.

Nixon waited for the green light to come on, seconds after they got the green-light, the plane took a direct hit over the drop zone.

Nixon grabbed Charlie and threw himself and Charlie out of the plane, all he could think about was getting Charlie to safety.

Both their chutes opened and they watched how the plane crashed, only two other soldiers had made it out.

Charlie just looked at the burning plane, she was relieved she made it out, but she felt sorry for the boys who didn't, it was a waste a life to die only months before the war was over.

Nixon tapped her on her shoulder "We need to get moving"

Charlie just nodded and followed him and the two troopers to the assembly point.

When they arrived at the assembly point Nixon informed the CO of the battalion what happened and returned to the CP to sleep, he didn't even try to find Charlie, he just wanted to drink the sight of the burning plane away.

Charlie decided to leave Nixon to his own thoughts, they would discuss this when they returned to Mourmelon.

Charlie found the platoon the men from her plane had been attached to and sat down with the boys, an around of "evening captain" sounded and Charlie nodded to the boys.

She looked at them, they were all so young and Charlie just sighed. Charlie sat around and shot the breeze with boys most of the night, a few hours before dawn, Charlie went to find Nixon.

Nixon was hung over and he still hadn't talked Charlie. The two of them where being send back over the Rhine and flown back to Mourmelon.

On the way back, just a little outside the camp, they drove past Camilla and Lipton, "Was that Captain Nixon and Charlie?" Camilla asked Lipton

"I think so" Lipton said

"What the hell is he doing in his harness?" Camilla asked

"I don't know, but let's find out" Lipton said and started to walk back towards camp

Charlie was driving the jeep and she was a little pissed at Nixon, he still hadn't spoken a word to her. When she drove into camp she almost hit Speirs and his most recent loot.

Charlie stopped the jeep and Nixon just got out and walked inside their billet, he went straight for the booze.

"Do really think that is the answer?" Charlie asked him

"Yep" was all Nixon said

"I don't and if you don't talk to me, you are going to be a very lonely soldier soon" Charlie took of her helmet and harness and started to shrug of her jacket.

"I just don't know what I am doing here anymore, why do we fight, can you tell me that?" Nixon asked her

"I can't yet, but you will find out soon enough, just promise me to cut back, please Lew" Charlie pleaded with her lover

Nixon walked over and kissed her on her head "I'll try" he said and pulled her into an embrace

Charlie sighed and hugged him back, she knew it would get worse before it would get better.

Dick walked into the room, he looked at the drink Nixon had just poured and then look at Charlie, who just threw her hand up, to motion she wanted to stay out of whatever was coming.

"So you two are making combat jumps with the 17th, while I am in supply briefings all morning"

Nixon started to take off his boots "Yeah lucky us"

"Well congratulations, you two are probably the only two officers in the 101st with three stars over your jump wings"

Charlie just looked at winters "Yeah and he never fired his weapon in combat ha"

"Really? Never not even with all the action we seen?" Winters asked him

"Not a round" Nixon said and walked over and poured himself another drink

"So, how did it go this morning? The Jump?" Winters asked

"Great, fantastic, we took a direct hit over the drop zone, I got out, Charlie got out and two others got out" Nixon said

"And the rest of the boys?" Winters asked

"They blew up over Germany somewhere, boom" Nixon said

"Yeah, I am sorry" Winters answered him

"About what?" Nixon asked

"About the boys' tough situation" Winters answered

"Oh yeah the boys, yeah terrible, oh well it wasn't me" Nixon said

At this point Charlie got up and took Nixon's drink from him and gulped it down.

"The real tragedy is, they also lost their CO, so guess who gets to write all the letters home?" Nixon threw his empty bottle in a bucket besides the door to the living room and walked thru it.

Dick and Charlie followed him, Nixon scrounged for some more Vat 69 and found some in a near empty bottle.

He then sat down on a chair, Winters turned and looked at him "I got a visit from Colonel Sink this morning"

"Yeah, how is the good colonel" Nixon asked

"Concerned, still drinking nothing but the Vat 69" Winters answered him

"Nothing but the finest for Captain Kahne's man" Nixon said and pulled Charlie to him

"Is that a problem up at regiment?" Winters asked him

"What this? Is that what he said? I just don't like up there" Nixon asked him

"Good, you be glad to hear Sink is transferring you back down to battalion S3" Winters told Nixon

Charlie's head snapped up "What about me?" she asked

"You get to stay at regiment and work with Matheson" Winters told her

Charlie let out a few choice words she didn't want to leave Nixon and especially not now

"What do you two think I should write to the parents?" Nixon asked his two friends

"Did you hear what I said Nix, you been demoted" Winters asked him

"Demoted, yeah got it, because I don't know how to tell them their kids never even made it out of the god damn plane" Nixon retorted

"You tell them what you always tell them, their sons died as heroes" Winters told him

"You really still believe that?" asked Winters

"Yeah, yeah I do, don't you?" Winters asked Nixon

Nixon just gave a small laugh, he didn't really care about anything at the moment, maybe only the wonderful woman standing next to him

Winters looked at Charlie "Talk some sense into him, please"

Charlie just smiled and Winters left. Charlie dragged Nixon to his feet and dragged him into the bedroom, she undressed him and herself and pushed him down on the bed and got in next to him. She kissed him and whispered "Don't worry, you'll get it soon enough"

…

A couple of days later and for Nixon a couple of bottles later, Speirs, Dana, Welsh, Lipton Camilla, Nixon and Charlie was gathered in the living room of Charlie and Nixon's billet.

The boys was playing poker, well the boys and Camilla, and she was cleaning them out. Welsh and Speirs was talking about how they couldn't believe, how Ike was going to let the Russians get Berlin.

Nixon was running out of Vat 69 and suddenly got up "Deal me out" he said and walked out

Welsh looked around at the others "Are we waiting on him again?"

"Yeah, we're waiting" Lipton said

…

Charlie ran after Nixon

"Lew, what are you doing? Comeback here, Lewis did you hear me?" Charlie was looking up at the sky, it was pouring down

"Charlie, don't just go back inside" Nixon pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, he lit one up and walked out into pouring rain, in search for some whiskey

Charlie ran after him an grabbed his sleeve "Please Lew, You won't your answer in the bottom of a bottle"

Nixon turned and looked at Charlie "then where do I find it? You won't tell me, you just keep saying I'll find it later" Nixon yelled at her and kept walking,

"Nixon, get back here, Lewis if you don't get back here, you will be very lonely tomorrow"

"I might be lonely, but at least I got someone to go home to, what do you have?" Nixon was angry and after he said the words he immediately regretted them

Charlie looked at him like he had struck her "How can you say that, you know my situation and you know I will never be able to go back home, you son of a bitch"

Nixon just glared at Charlie "Yeah, well, I wish you and the rest of you never showed up in the first place"

Charlie looked hurt "Well, at least my wife isn't leaving me and taking me to the cleaners, guess you can't even hold on to an anorexic, alcoholic bimbo"

Nixon was furious and before he knew what he was doing, he raised his hand and slapped Charlie across the face.

Charlie put her hand on her throbbing cheek, she was so surprised, and she had imagined a lot of scenarios when the time came to confront Nixon about his drinking, but him slapping her wasn't one of them. Charlie turned around and walked back into the building, she kept walking straight thru the room the other officers was gathered in and slammed the bedroom door behind her.

"What hell was that?" Dana mumbled and got up, she walked over and opened the bedroom door. Dana found Charlie bend over the wash basin, splashing water on her face sporting something that would eventually turned into a black eye.

"What the hell happened to you?" Dana asked her friend

"Lew hit me" Charlie said

"What?" Dana was shocked, she couldn't believe Nixon would actually hit a woman

"I confronted him and he slapped me" Charlie said.

"I going to get the son of a bitch" Dana mumbled and stormed out of the bedroom. Speirs looked up just in time to see the look in his wife's eyes, they still weren't talking, but he knew something was wrong.

"Dana, Dana, for Christ sake, Captain Speirs I order you to stop" Speirs yelled after Dana

Dana turned around and just irk her husband, she jumped to attention and held the position until he had saluted her.

Speirs shook his head and hid a smile, man she was driving him fucking crazy "what the hell happened back there?" he asked

"Nix hit Charlie and now he is going to feel the wrath of god" Dana said to her husband

"HE WHAT!" Speirs yelled and stormed out of the house and into the pouring rain, looking for the culprit.

Alarmed by Speirs yelling, the other officers came running out of the building and Dana once again explained what had happened.

Welsh sighed "I have to talk to Winters" and he then disappeared

"Well, I going to head back to the aid station, send Charlie my way ok, I'll keep her there for the night" Camilla kissed Lipton and stormed of

Dana looked at Lip" What a freaking mess"

"Yeah, you can say that again" Lipton said and saluted Dana and walked towards Battalion CP

Dana just stood out in the pouring rain and a few seconds later Roe walked by "Captain you really should get inside, so yah won't catch pneumonia again"

"Yeah I should, but I won't" Dana mumbled to herself

Dana stomped of the direction her husband had disappeared in, she found him and several officers all shouting at Nixon, who was sitting on the ground with his head in his hands, sporting a bleeding nose and a black eye, courtesy of Ron Speirs.

Emma had finally gotten her uniform on and stepped out of the CP, she heard some general shouting and saw the crowd gathered around Nixon, who was sitting on the ground saying he was sorry.

Emma walked over and the crowd stepped away from Nixon, Emma gave them all a stern look "Ok you are all dismissed, you too Dick, I got this"

The other officers vanished, Winters hesitated for a moment, but Emma motioned for him to go on back to the CP, she was alright.

"Come on punchy, opsy Daisy" Emma pulled Nixon to his feet and pulled him towards the aid station

Once they reached the aid station, Emma pushed Nixon inside and left him to find Roe or Spina, she found Camilla and Charlie in an examination room "You ok?" Emma asked

"I am good, how is Lew?" Charlie asked Emma

"He is a mess and he is truly sorry, you worried about him?" Emma asked

"I am and I know I shouldn't be, but I forgive him. I won't make up any excuses for him, what he did was wrong on so many levels, but I been known to throw a few punches myself, but I don't know if I can go back to him" Charlie said

"You are the bigger person" Emma said and turned around

Emma walked straight into Roe "Doc, I need you to take a look at Captain punchy" Emma followed Roe to room where she had left Nixon.

Nixon was sitting on a chair, Doc took a look at him and cleaned his scrapes "Yah good ta go, Sir" he said

Nixon thanked Roe. Emma dragged him back to the CP, when they got there she turned to him "You can stay here tonight, but tomorrow you are on your own, I can't protect you, you need help Nix"

"I know, you think she will ever forgive me?" Nixon asked Emma

"I don't know Nix, she forgives you, but you might have lost her for good" Emma kissed Nixon on the cheek and patted Nixon on the shoulder and left the room.


	18. Chapter 18

I own nothing, only my OC

* * *

_There is a bottle on the shelve talking to me_

_Saying come over here, you can have a drink_

_we can make thru this lonely night together_

_Thats a road I dont want to go back down_

_And I hate myself for what I am thinking now_

_Hey its just one night it's not like it's forever_

_I just wanna feel better_

_Maggie Rose, Better_

"Nixon, Nix, wake up, we are moving out, Germany my friend" Welsh was kicking the cot Nixon was sleeping on

Easy Company and the rest of the 506th was heading for the Bavarian alpes.

Nixon rolled of the cot and looked at his reflection in the mirror on the wall, he looked like hell. He had tried to quit drinking, but had failed, and he had run out of Vat 69 and had been forced to drink the local stuff, as he called it.

Nixon walked across the square and into the post office "Ah, Captain Nixon, what can I do for you?" private Vest asked him

"I am looking for a particular brand of Whiskey" Nixon looked Vest square in the eye

"Vat 69, well it won't be cheap sir" Vest said to Nixon

"That won't be a problem" Nixon told the young private, he needed that whiskey, so if he had to pay out of his ears for it, he would.

The two men was interrupted by janovec, who informed them 350,000 Germans had just surrender

Nixon started to leave the post office, when Vest stopped him "Sir, I got a couple of letters for you here" Vest handed Nixon two letters. One was from his wife and the other from his parents.

The letter from his wife, had to be the dear Lewis letter, Charlie had told him about.

Nixon opened the letter, he read it as he walked across the square

, it was indeed the letter he had been expecting. He knew it was coming and he knew he hadn't been faithful to Cathy especially not since Normandy, but he still felt like a failure.

Nixon headed for regimental HQ, eager to share the news with Charlie, but then he remembered, he couldn't, because of his fucking drunken mistake. Nixon would never forgive himself for hitting a woman, and not only a woman, but the woman whom he loved with all of his soul.

Before he reached HQ, the order to get on the truck came, private Christenson clapped his hands and told the men to move out.

Nixon climbed in the back of a Jeep and sat down sulking. Winters was driving and Emma was in the passenger seat.

Someone started to sing Blood upon the risers and the large convoy moved out. The Convoy scrambled thru Germany.

Somewhere around Nuremberg, they stopped for the night and the officers first priorities was finding sleeping arrangements for the men.

Speirs walked into a house with Liebgott and Dana hot on his heels. Speirs told Liebgott to tell the family they had five minutes to get out and not to come back before the Americans had left.

Dana stood quietly in the corner and watched Liebgott and Speirs yelling at the family.

Dana didn't even feel guilty about kicking the family out of their house, these people was responsible for the suffering she and six million other people had been thru, so no she didn't care, she just wanted them gone.

So did Speirs, after the family left he pulled her close "Are we good or as good as we're going to be?" he asked her

"Yeah, we're good" Dana said

The regiment stayed for one night and moved out. The regiment continued south on the autobahn, as the convoy moved south, the 350,000 Germans, who had surrendered, walked in columns in the grass between the lanes, they were heading north. Winters was impressed with how the Germans still marched with pride, even though they were defeated.

Webster, who's truck was driving in front of the jeep with Nixon in it, got on his feet and started to yell at the Germans "Hey you, yeah that's right, you stupid kraut bastard, say hello to Ford and General fucking Motors, you stupid fascist pigs, look at you, you have horses what were you thinking?" At this point Ramirez had enough of Webster's yelling

Ramirez pulled him down on the bench "That's not enough Webster, give it a rest"

Camilla, who was on that same truck, hid a smile, she knew they would find out soon enough, why they were there to fight.

However Webster wasn't thru "Dragging our ass half way around the world, interrupting out lives and for what? You ignorant servile scum, what the fuck are we doing here?"

Without knowing it, Webster had just put a voice to Nixon's feelings toward the Germans and the war.

…..

**_Landsberg, Germany_**

Easy and the rest of the 506th pulled into the small town of Landsberg, Winters immediately send out some patrols, in case they were staying there for the night.

Dog would stay in town and Easy would patrol the woods. Speirs nodded and yelled out Easy, the men and Dana gathered around Speirs, who told which platoon to go where.

Dana looked at her husband, she was still, so very much in love with him and she couldn't imagine living without him. Dana still feared, that one day she and the rest of the girls would be sent back to their own time and she would lose the love she had finally found.

The patrol was walking thru the woods, it was Erie quiet. Dana had Shifty and McClung as lead scouts and Bull and O'Keeffe brought up the rear.

Bull noticed O'Keeffe was jumpy and gave him a hard time about it, telling him they could hear his heart pound all the way in Arkansas.

Perconte was looking around "Hey George, kind of reminds you Bastogne"

Luz looked at Perco and rolled his eyes "Yeah, now that you mention it, except of course there is no snow, we got warm grub in our bellies, and the trees aren't fucking exploding from Kraut artillery, but yeah Frank, other than that it's a lot like Bastogne"

Frank was glad his best buddy agreed "Yeah"

Luz took a drag of his cigarette "Bull smack him for me please" and Bull did just that

Dana ordered the men to settle down, she knew what they would stumble upon and she knew they were getting close, the woods were all quiet and it seemed like, even all the animals had left this part of the woods.

O Keefe made a remark about how quiet it was and Perconte agreed with him. Dana was still waiting for them to find the camp, which she knew from her history books was a sub camp of the Dachau concentration camp.

The patrol walked into a clearing and there it was, the Camp, the men all became quiet and Christenson lost his lunch.

Dana turned to Perconte, who was the best runner "Go get my husband, Nixon, Winters, Emma and do not let Nixon get here without Captain Kahne.

Perco ran and Dana walked up to the fence and tried to talk to the prisoners, but they wouldn't talk to her and she realized it was because of her uniform, so she removed her helmet and let down her hair, that made the difference, some of the men cried and some called out the names of their daughters and wife's.

…

Perconte ran into town and asked for Winters and Speirs, no one knew where they were and Frank was getting desperate, he knew if he came back without the officers Dana had ordered him to bring out to the camp, he was a dead man.

Finally he found Winters and Emma "Major Winters, ma'am, we found something on the patrol and ahh, we came across this…"

"What, what Frank, Frank what is it?" Winters asked him

Frank was frantic, he didn't have words to describe, what it was they had found "I don't know Sir, I don't know"

Emma knew exactly what it was Dana and her men had found. She dropped her head and waited for Franks breathing to slow down, once she was convinced Frank wasn't panicking, she looked at the two men "Frank go get Camilla and Roe, tell her it's time and she needs her hunger kit, she will know what you mean"

Emma then turned around and the first sergeant she noticed was first sergeant Talbert "Tab go get Nixon and Charlie and tell them to get here on the double, tell Charlie why we fight and she will know what to do"

Talbert ran off and Emma looked at her husband "You and need to have a little talk"

Emma led Winters into the building, which served as HQ "she put her hands on her hips and started to pace " Ok, in 1942 the Nazi's came up with the final solution, they were going to eliminate all, Jews, Jehovah witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, handicapped, anyone who didn't fit into the idea of the Arian race. They put them into camps and worked them to death or gassed them and then burned the bodies, it's a camp like that third platoon has discovered in the woods, so be prepared, it's going to be ugly, rough and a lot of men are going to break down"

Emma turned and looked at her husband. Winters looked startled and a little pale "Yeah, ok, let's go see what it's all about"

When they walked out of the HQ, the other officers were waiting for them. Charlie, Emma and Camilla was looking at each other and nodded, they knew exactly what they had to do, once they got there and it was going to be the hardest thing they would ever have to do.

The remainder of the second battalion was ordered on to trucks, and when the battalion pulled up to the Camp, Winters knew, nothing would ever have prepared him for the sight that met them.

Skeleton like men was gathered around the fence and the gate to the camp. They were all wearing striped clothing, most of which was torn and worn. Their heads were shaved and most of them were missing most of their teeth, the whole camp was wrapped in a stench of death, rotten corpses and general decay.

Winters stepped of the jeep, he was about to order Christenson to cut the chain that held the gate together, preventing the prisoners from escaping.

"Stop, Major Winters, sir" Camilla stepped forward

"We have to make sure these people stay in the camp, they can't wander of and scatter. They probably have typhus, cholera and other cottages diseases, we need to keep them here and Sir no one feeds them, if we starting giving them food they will eat themselves to death, we have to put them on a special diet, only food with live bacteria, like sour kraut, yoghurt, quark and such"

Winters nodded and ordered Christenson to open the gate. Winters walked in with the men following him and he realized he needed a translator, so he could talk to the prisoners and send for Liebgott.

Nixon walked next to Winters with Charlie hot on his heels, she knew what the place would do to Lew and wanted to be near him when he finally realized, why they were fighting the Germans.

Nixon stared at the men emerging thru the smoke from the burning buildings, some carrying what looked like death bodies. Nixon was paralyzed, the amount of emotion that ran thru him at that very moment was indescribable, and he felt helpless, shocked, rage against the Germans, sadness and sorrow.

What these people had been thru, couldn't even be described and it made his problems seem insignificant.

Nixon turned around and there she was, his reason for existing, the woman who made it worth living and he had done the most unforgivable a man could ever do and here she was, just looking at her, made Nixon feel like it was all going to be ok.

Charlie looked at Nixon and opened her arms to him. Nixon almost ran into her arms and he was mess.

Charlie just held him and whispered to him "It's ok, it's all going to be ok" Charlie had tears running down her cheeks. Nixon pulled away a little and brushed the tears of her face "I am sorry, I am sorry, I promise, no more drinking and no more rage"

Charlie looked at him "We are not ok yet, but we will be, just hang in there" Charlie started to walk away.

Nixon looked at her back "Charlie, now I know what you meant, when you said, I would know soon enough why we were here"

Charlie stopped for a second and then continued walking.

Winters and Emma were talking to one of the prisoners, Liebgott translated. Emma already knew what the man would tell them, and he confirmed what she already knew.

Camilla came running "Winters, hey Em, can you get the men to rally around me? So I can tell them what to do"

Winters looked at Emma "Get it done, I need to call Sink"

Emma got a hold of Speirs and McMillan, they found the commander of Fox and the battalion gathered around the Easy Doc.

"Look, we need to triage these men, those who can walk, those who need assistance walking or need to be carried and last those who are dead. The live inmates need to be placed by the gate, leave the dead in the huts, they will buried tomorrow, ok boys move out"

Camilla started with men already gathered at the gate. Camilla spoke German and Russian, courtesy of the West Point language courses.

She had her trusted stethoscope, and she was examining a man, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, Camilla looked up. Lipton looked down at her, she squeezed his hand "I am ok, I can handle this"

Lipton nodded and continued his walk around the camp, everywhere he looked there were dead bodies and smoking remains of buildings. He stumbled upon Malarkey, who was looking at one of the dead bodies wrist and the both noticed the tattoo. All of the men in the camp had tattoo's, they had been branded like cattle.

This camp was nothing like Lipton had ever even imagined, he couldn't comprehend how such evil existed, what kind of sick minds had planned the extermination of a whole religion, this was genocide, like never seen before.

Dana was helping the men triage the prisoners, she felt like she was about to vomit, the stench in the camp was overwhelming and nothing had prepared her for this, for seeing an actual concentration camp.

Speirs walked by and noticed his tough ass wife looking pale and fragile and he knew he had to get her out of there "Dana why don't you go and help unload the trucks"

Dana looked at Ron and gave him a grateful smile and walked towards the trucks the 326th medical unit had brought with them.

Dana started to help and she noticed Sink, Winters Nixon, Emma, Charlie and Doctor Kent walk towards Camilla.

Camilla was talking to one of the polish prisoners in Russian, when she heard Sink address her "Lieutenant Hamlin"

Camilla turned around "Sir" she said and saluted Sink

"This here is Doctor Kent, he is the regimental surgeon" Sink introduced the two doctors to each other.

"We already met, however last time I saw you, you didn't know who you were and you went AWOL from my hospital" Kent smiled at Camilla

"Yeah, sorry about that, I needed to get back to my boys" Camilla blushed slightly

"So tell me what do we got here" Kent asked Camilla

"Well, all of them are starving, 99 percent of the men have cholera and typhus and they all have some sort of respiratory tract infection, pneumonia mostly, I need blankets, cots, antibiotics, food with life bacteria in it, clothes, every medicine you can think of, plasma, saltwater, disinfection, you name I need, and a bunch of nurses would be awesome" Camilla told Kent

"Well, you can have whatever I got on these truck and I can some of your men scrounge for supplies at the local hospital" Kent said

"Awesome and yes, do you by any chance have any coca cola with you?" Camilla asked

"Why would you need coca cola, for these men?" Kent asked

"Oh, the coke was for me" Camilla winked and got on with her work.

Pretty soon the 326th took over from second battalion and in no time tents was pitched and the nurses, medics and the two doctors was working hard.

Dana and Emma poked their head into the tent Camilla was working in, she just looked at them and motioned for them to leave, one thing was for here to risk infection, but she wouldn't let her friends catch anything.

…..

Nixon and Charlie was sitting in the living room in Charlie's billet, she shared a small house with Camilla, who was working out at the camp and Charlie wasn't expecting her home anytime soon.

Charlie was looking at a jittery Nixon who need a drink and Charlie wouldn't let him, she had sat him down and told him, he wasn't leaving the house until he was sober.

Charlie knew he could do it, he did once when she first met him and by god, she was going to sober him up again.

Emma was sitting on the couch in the living room of her and Dick's billet, she was going thru some paper work when her husband walked in, she couldn't help but smile and winters walked over and sat down next to her and pulled her close to him and kissed her on top of her head. He needed to be close to her after what they experienced today and after what he just heard from Division HQ

"I just heard from Division HQ, that the Russian liberated a larger camp, ten times, big with ovens…"

Emma looked at her amazing husband "I know Auschwitz, horrible place" Emma sighed

"The towns' people claim they didn't know about the camp, that we are exaggerating" Emma said

"Well they are going to find out tomorrow. Taylor just declared Marshall Law and every able body between the age of 14 and 80 are going to help burry the bodies"

Emma looked at Winters "Serves them right" was all she said

…..

The next morning a very tired Charlie drove Nixon out to the camp, the people from town were already working on burying the dead.

Charlie could tell Nixon still had a hard time dealing with what he had seen "You need to accept the fact this has happened and live with it, knowing you fought for those who lived thru this. This is why we fight"

Nixon knew he found the reason for his war and his reason for being sober thru the rest of it.


End file.
